Rep. Susan Lynn has reportedly withdrawn legislation that had once again made Tennessee's legislature fodder for national news — a bill requiring students to use the bathroom corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates.
More specifically, the bill aimed to prevent transgender students from using the bathrooms that match their gender identity. Tennessee's consideration of the legislation coincided with passage of a similar bill in North Carolina, prompting lawsuits against the state.
Lynn told reporters Monday afternoon that she was withdrawing the bill because the legislature didn't have enough time to work out some of the issues surrounding it. But an opinion from Attorney General Herbert Slatery released last week said the bill likely violated Title IX and could threaten federal education funding for the state.
The bill had also been the target of opposition from celebrities like Connie Britton and organizations like GLAAD and the ACLU.
“We are gratified that Representative Susan Lynn heeded the extensive opposition to this bill from all corners of the state and decided to take this discriminatory and harmful legislation off notice," Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee, says in a release Monday afternoon. "This measure would have had a devastating financial impact on the state, let alone the damage that it would have caused vulnerable students in Tennessee. Today’s move helps ensure that every child in Tennessee will be treated with respect and dignity. We will remain vigilant to ensure that all Tennessee children are treated equally under the law.”
Lynn's move Monday means the bill is gone for 2016, but all indications suggest she'll be bringing it back again next year.
