April 2024 — Timeline — Standing Record

Apr 29

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB 2861, barring state funds for gender-affirming care for inmates

On April 29, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB 2861 (Public Chapter 821), prohibiting the state Department of Correction from using state funds to provide hormone replacement therapy or sex-reassignment surgery to inmates held in a state penitentiary, county jail, or workhouse. The General Assembly had passed the measure, with the Senate voting 24-3 on April 4 and the House 71-20 on April 11. The law took effect immediately upon signing.

Discriminatory policy

Apr 17

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a law shielding foster and adoptive parents who refuse to affirm a child's LGBTQ identity

On April 17, 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1738, the "Tennessee Foster and Adoptive Parent Protection Act," codified as Public Chapter 677 and effective July 1, 2024. The law bars the Department of Children's Services from requiring foster or adoptive parents to affirm any government policy on sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with their religious or moral beliefs, and from denying eligibility or placement on that basis. It passed the Senate 25-6 and the House 73-20.

Apr 10

Idaho Gov. Little signed library-restriction law defining 'homosexuality' as harmful to minors

On April 10, 2024, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed H0710, the "Children's School and Library Protection Act," creating a private cause of action against public and school libraries that fail to relocate materials deemed "harmful to minors" to adults-only sections within 60 days of a complaint. The "harmful to minors" standard the law enforces is defined in Idaho Code to include "homosexuality" as sexual conduct. The law took effect July 1, 2024.

Apr 9

Idaho Gov. Little signed HB 421, defining sex and gender as binary biological categories across state code

Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 421 on April 9, 2024, inserting binary biology-based definitions of "sex," "male," "female," and "gender" into Idaho Code section 73-114, the general statutory-terms section that applies by default across all state statutes unless a specific law defines otherwise. The law declares there are "two, and only two, sexes," fixes sex at conception or birth rather than self-identification, defines "gender" as a synonym for biological sex that explicitly excludes gender identity, and amends Idaho's birth-certificate, vulnerable-child, and school changing-facility statutes to point to the new definition. It passed the House 54-14 and the Senate 26-8 and took effect as Session Law Chapter 322 on July 1, 2024.

Apr 8

Idaho Gov. Little signed H0538 barring compelled use of preferred pronouns for government employees and students

On April 8, 2024, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 538 into law, enacting Idaho Code section 67-5909B after the Legislature passed it earlier that session. The law bars adverse action against government employees and public-school students who decline to use a name, title, or pronoun inconsistent with a person's biological sex, prohibits school and higher-education staff from addressing an unemancipated minor by an affirmed name or pronoun without written parental permission, and creates a private cause of action for violations. It took effect July 1, 2024, as Session Law Chapter 314.

Apr 2

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed state Religious Freedom Restoration Act after Republican majority rejected anti-discrimination carve-out

On April 2, 2024, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 2095, a state Religious Freedom Restoration Act, into law at a private event hosted by the conservative Christian group The Family Leader. The law, enacted as Iowa Acts Chapter 1003, sets a strict-scrutiny standard for government actions that burden religious exercise; Republican legislators had rejected a Democratic amendment (S-5018) that would have barred the law from overriding civil-rights, disability, and anti-discrimination protections. The bill passed the Senate 31-16 and the House 61-33 along party lines.