The Tennessee State Senate has approved a bill requiring clinics to report detailed data on patients receiving gender-affirming care, a move critics warn could enable the state to track transgender people and the doctors who treat them.
The measure requires all gender clinics in Tennessee to submit monthly reports to the Department of Health on patients who receive transition-related treatments or surgery. The state would then publish annual reports based on that data.
The reports would exclude patients’ names but include details such as age, sex assigned at birth, prescribed medications, and the dates prescriptions were written or surgical referrals made. The requirement would apply not only to those receiving gender-affirming care, but also to patients seeking treatment for side effects or those who later experience “regret” and pursue “detransition.”
The bill, a version of which previously passed in the House, also requires providers to report when they prescribe gender-affirming treatments or refer patients to specialists, as well as disclose any prior neurological, behavioral, or mental health diagnoses.
Clinics and providers that fail to comply could face fines of up to $150,000.
The bill’s sponsors, State Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) and State Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby), say the measure is intended to increase transparency around the side effects of gender-affirming care and the number of people who later choose to “detransition” by tracking patient outcomes.
“What about the poor folks that took up this transition nonsense and they transitioned to a sex or a gender that they thought would solve their problem, and they just want to be left alone? They want to be able to go back to their birth gender,” Taylor told The Associated Press.
Before passing the bill in a 24-7 vote, the Republican-led Senate adopted several amendments, including one allowing the attorney general to investigate clinics that do not comply.
Another amendment removed a requirement to report county-level data and barred providers’ names from appearing in public reports, though clinics would still be required to submit detailed information to the Tennessee Department of Health.
Taylor acknowledged the change was prompted by critics, who warned the data could violate federal privacy protections and make it easier to identify — and potentially target — transgender patients, particularly in smaller counties.
The House must still approve the Senate’s amendments before the bill can go to Republican Gov. Bill Lee for his signature. Most House Republicans supported the original version, suggesting the changes are likely to pass.
Critics argue that the bill raises serious privacy concerns, warning that the collection and potential publication of sensitive health data could discourage transgender people from seeking care and pressure providers to limit treatment.
Dahron Anneliese Johnson, co-chair of the Nashville Committee of the Tennessee Equality Project, told Metro Weekly that lawmakers have tried to pass similar legislation for the past three years, after earlier efforts stalled over concerns about the cost of implementation.
Dahron Anneliese Johnson
Johnson noted that care used to “detransition” is still a form of gender-affirming care and should be available to everyone.
“This story about the need to create support mechanisms for detransitioners serves as the justification for the ‘data grab’ parts of this bill,” she said. “Let’s say that, at some point in the future, I decided that those changes don’t make me feel at home in my own body the way that we hoped that they might, and so I make additional and other medical decisions to help me feel at home in my own body. For the bill’s sponsors, they want to make sure if I have one of these ‘takesies-backsies’ moments, care is there.
“What they then do is say, “Well, for us to be able to guarantee that people can reverse the care decisions they’ve made in the past, we need a record — all of the things they’ve had done, all the prescriptions that they’ve taken, for how long and what amounts, so that we can make sure they have the ability to undo all of those things in the future. So the framing story becomes the rationalization for the data collection.”
Johnson said the chief issue with the bill is the volume of data it requires clinics to collect, noting that even if some information is not made public, it would still be held by the Tennessee Department of Health.
“The fact that there is a list of data for such a specific population, with such specific details, regardless of whether it resides behind HIPAA-compliant data measures or not, that’s a list that can be weaponized,” she said.
Johnson added that the bill’s true aim, especially when coupled with other anti-transgender legislation being pushed by Tennessee Republicans, appears to be to push transgender people to the margins and chill the speech of providers who treat LGBTQ people.
“This is really about keeping tabs on a population, and by keeping tabs on them, scaring into being part of the public at all,” she said.
Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little has signed a bill into law penalizing local governments, including the city of Boise, for flying Pride flags on government property.
House Bill 561, sponsored by State Rep. Ted Hill (R-Eagle), prohibits any "governmental entity" -- including counties, cities, and other political subdivisions -- from displaying non-approved flags on public property. The bill defines "government property" as "land owned and maintained by government entity, including buildings, adjoining land, parks, roads and boulevards."
Approved flags include the American flag, official city or county flags designated prior to 2023, military branch or unit flags, the prisoner of war-missing in action (POW/MIA) flag, Native American tribal flags, a single college or university flag, and flags that are "not political, religious, or ideological in nature."
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a Little Rock restaurant, with the owner citing concerns from LGBTQ employees over her political positions.
On March 13, Sanders dined at The Croissanterie, arriving unannounced with two guests, staff members, and her State Police Executive Protection Detail.
Her party had been seated for more than an hour and had already paid and tipped when she said the restaurant owner asked a member of her security detail to have them leave.
A Republican-backed federal bill imposing stricter ID requirements for Americans registering or voting could disenfranchise millions whose official documents do not match their names at birth -- including many transgender Americans.
Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the SAVE America Act, a Republican-backed bill that supporters say will preserve the "integrity" of elections by requiring voters to show photo identification when casting a ballot and requiring states to obtain documented proof of U.S. citizenship from people registering to vote.
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