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Timeline › 2021 › May

May 2021

5 entries from May 2021.

May 19

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB1233, creating private right of action against schools over transgender students' bathroom access

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed House Bill 1233 into law on May 19, 2021, enacting Public Chapter 452, the Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act. The law defines sex by birth anatomy, limits schools to single-occupancy accommodations for students seeking facility privacy, and creates a private civil right of action against a school district that knowingly allows a member of the opposite sex into a multi-occupancy restroom, changing facility, or sleeping quarters.

Tennessee Gov. Lee signed HB1182, requiring businesses to post signs disclosing transgender-inclusive restroom policies

On May 19, 2021, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed HB 1182 into law as Public Chapter 453, requiring any business or facility open to the public that maintains a transgender-inclusive restroom policy to post a government-scripted warning sign at each restroom entrance. Sponsored by state Rep. Tim Rudd (R-Murfreesboro), the law passed the House 62-25 and took effect July 1, 2021, with noncompliant businesses facing criminal enforcement.

May 18

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB0126, barring hormone treatment for prepubertal transgender minors

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 126 into law on May 18, 2021, enacting Public Chapter 460. The law bars healthcare prescribers from providing hormone treatment to prepubertal (Tanner stage 1) transgender or gender-incongruent minors, while preserving hormone treatment for minors with growth deficiencies or other diagnoses unrelated to gender dysphoria or gender incongruence.

May 7

Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB 112 barring transgender athletes from women's school sports

On May 7, 2021, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 112, sponsored by Rep. John Fuller, requiring K-16 school and university sports teams to be organized by sex assigned at birth and barring transgender women and girls from competing on female teams. The governor's office signed the bill without a public ceremony or statement; the signing was first reported after the bill's status updated on the Legislature's tracking system.

May 5

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1229, requiring parental notice and opt-out for LGBTQ curriculum

On May 5, 2021, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1229 into law as Public Chapter 281, requiring public schools and charter schools to give parents at least 30 days' notice before teaching any sexual-orientation or gender-identity curriculum and to let parents excuse their child from that instruction in writing. The law imposes no comparable parental-consent requirement on any other curricular subject and specifies that schools are not required to offer such curriculum at all.