Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD – the world’s LGBTQ media advocacy organization, released the following statement after the Tennessee State Judiciary Committee approved Senate Bill 1085, a measure that’s a part of Tennessee’s #SlateofHate. If signed into law, SB 1085 could invalidate marriages of LGBTQ couples and legal documents that affirm a transgender person’s true identity by stating that any “undefined” words be given their “natural and ordinary meaning.”

“The Tennessee State Senate is trying to sneak through an anti-LGBTQ bill that uses carefully worded language to hide its attempt to discriminate against LGBTQ Tennesseans. This mean-spirited bill could undermine marriages of gay and lesbian couples and nullify a transgender person’s true identity under law. Lawmakers should be spending time improving lives not pushing forward state-sanction discrimination.”

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: TENNESSEE’S REMAINING #SLATEOFHATE

SB30/HB33 – Requires words “father,” “mother,” “husband,” and “wife” be “based on the biological distinctions between men and women,” thereby targeting LGBTQ parents and couples.

• Especially impacting LGBTQ families, a child’s parent, if not the biological parent, might not be recognized as such by law
• Transgender people’s gender identity may not be recognized by law

SB1085/HB1111. – States any “undefined” words be given their so-called “natural and ordinary meaning,” opening non-traditional/LGBTQ couples and families up to discrimination.

• Affects every undefined word in the Tennessee code
• May interfere with the marriages of same-sex couples and LGBTQ families
• Transgender people’s gender identity may not be recognized by law

SB1153/HB1406 – Claims children conceived through artificial insemination are not “legitimate” children of their parents by repealing statue that protects them.

• Targets LGBTQ couples, single parents, and their children
• Allows the government to refuse to recognize LGBTQ families and only list one parent
• Creates roadblocks for LGBTQ parents trying to adopt their own children

###