The Tennessee state Legislature passed a bill Monday that would penalize public schools that allow transgender athletes to compete based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex.
The bill, along with a companion bill for college athletes, now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who has not yet indicated whether he will sign it. The governor signed a bill last year that required athletes in high school and middle school athletics to compete based on their biological sex.
The new legislation would give the previously enacted law “teeth” by directing the state Department of Education to withhold funds from schools that do not verify that a student-athlete is competing based on his or her biological sex, state Sen. Joey Hensley said.
The Legislature also passed a bill requiring college athletes to compete based on their biological sex.
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The two bills make Tennessee the latest to advance legislation requiring that all student-athletes compete based on their biological sex. Similar efforts have passed in several other states, including Texas and South Dakota.
Meanwhile, Republican governors in Indiana and Utah vetoed similar legislative efforts, which state lawmakers have vowed to overrule.
The issue of transgender athletes competing based on their gender identity gained renewed focus in recent months following the athletic exploits of transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas.
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Thomas, who is biologically male but identifies as a woman, dominated competitions during the NCAA 2021-2022 swimming season, culminating in a national championship in the women’s 500-yard freestyle over multiple Olympic medalists.
