In my monthly newsletter, Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, I include a section summarizing legislative news, and it occurred to me that as I finish up work on the June issue, I should post a copy of that section of the newsletter on this blog. Corrections and additions are most welcome, and if received quickly enough might even be incorporated in the June issue of the newsletter. I am constantly amazed at the sheer volume of legislative activity relevant to LGBT issues that takes place each month.
Federal
The Tennessee Intrastate Commerce bill section 2 also removes existing protections in state law from intersexed and trans people. Until now, Tennessee courts have followed Federal Court ruling in that district that discrimination on the basis of sex also applies to discrimination against those who change sex, and those whose sex is indeterminate. The courts are now explicitly forbidden from following that interpretation.
It is difficult to see how this is relevant to the bill’s ostensible purpose, to promote intrastate commerce. It is very obviously discriminatory in intent, and could be the bill’s fatal weakness if challenged under Romer vs Evans.
Are there actual reported court decisions where Tennessee courts have construed the state’s sex discrimination ban to apply to cases involving trans and intersex plaintiffs? I would not think that the new state law would affect that at all, since it is an interpretation of a category contained in state law, not an additional category.