DESPICABLE

Tennessee Guv Officially Signs Horrible Laws Targeting Drag, Trans Healthcare

Critics have pointed out that the new laws, said to protect children, solely focus on transgender children, as other kids are still free to get nose jobs and breast reductions.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed into law a ban on gender-affirming care for minors and severe restrictions on drag performances. Days after Lee was exposed for wearing drag in the past, the Republican governor approved laws that propagate baseless, harmful anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and will have horrific effects on transgender children and teens. The new health law bans puberty blockers and hormone treatments to treat any gender dysphoria case, as well as banning surgery. The laws will force children already undergoing treatment to cycle off by March 31, 2024. The state’s new drag law also prohibits “male or female impersonators” from performing on public property, classifying it as “adult-oriented” entertainment, regardless of one’s clothing or performing subjects. Despite GOP rhetoric trying to pin health-care providers and members of the LGBTQ community for “grooming” transgender children, studies show that almost no one who transitions as a minor regrets it. The law also singularly discriminates against transgender and nonbinary people, critics have said. Children are still allowed to get breast reductions, nose jobs and other cosmetic surgeries under Tennessee’s new health laws, if gender dysphoria isn’t involved.