Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III has warned that the state could lose millions of dollars in federal funding if lawmakers move forward with legislation restricting transgender students’ access to bathroom facilities consistent with their gender identity.
In an opinion released Monday, Slatery writes: “In sum, if a transgender student is required by a school district in Tennessee to use a restroom or locker room facility that is consistent with his or her anatomical gender rather than his or her gender expression or gender identity, and if that student files a complaint, [the U.S. Department of Education], applying its current interpretation of Title IX, will almost certainly require the school district to permit the student access to the facility consistent with his or her gender expression, and refusal to do so could very well result in loss of federal funding — at least until [Department of Education’s] interpretation is overruled by authoritative and binding judicial decision.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has already voiced concerns that these discriminatory measures would compromise the state’s $3 billion in federal funding for its schools and universities. His spokesperson has said that the governor “trusts our teachers and local school boards to make necessary accommodations” for transgender students. The legislation offers costly supposed “solutions” to non-existent problems, and would force schools to choose between complying with federal law — while also doing the right thing for their students — or complying with a state law that violates students’ civil rights. Several federal departments have announced that they are looking into whether to cut federal funding for North Carolina following the recent passage of their anti-LGBT laws.
“We hope that Tennessee’s elected officials hear Attorney General Herbert Slatery’s clear message — the state’s discriminatory, anti-transgender legislation will jeopardize crucial federal funding for the state’s public schools,” said HRC Senior Vice President of Policy and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof. “Any compassionate person can see how cruel this legislation targeting transgender children is. But this warning from the state’s top lawyer also makes clear that the terrible bill puts millions of federal education dollars in peril, risking the quality of education received by every single student attending Tennessee’s public schools.”
Over the past month, bills with language similar to Tennessee’s discriminatory proposal were vetoed in South Dakota, but enacted in North Carolina, where lawmakers are facing fierce backlash. In South Dakota, Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard vetoed a similar bill after listening to child welfare organizations, pediatricians, and parents, and meeting with transgender children.
In North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory and the state legislature rammed through a measure that, among other discriminatory provisions, includes a similar appalling attack on transgender students. More than 130 business leaders are calling on North Carolina’s elected officials in their upcoming legislative session to repeal that law, which puts thousands of youth, citizens, employees, and visitors to the state at risk. In the meantime, a number of businesses have begun removing investments from the state.
