Victory! Tennessee passes bill criminalizing adults pushing sex change surgery
Tennessee lawmakers in the state's Senate on Thursday passed a bill on a 25-4 vote that would make it a felony for adults to aid minors in seeking gender transition procedures. It now heads to the GOP-led House, where it is expected to get additional Republican support.
State Sen. Janice Bowling, a Republican, sponsored SB 2782, which would penalize any "adult who recruits, harbors, or transports an unemancipated minor" in Tennessee "for the purpose of receiving a prohibited medical procedure that is for the purpose of enabling the minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex or treating purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor's sex and asserted identity, regardless of where the medical procedure is to be procured," and make it classified as a felony.
Adults who break the law could face prison time of three to 15 years and fines of up to $10,000 under the Class C felony that the bill allots. The bill also "authorizes a person who violates this amendment to be held liable in a civil action for such violation."
Photo Credit: Youtube Video Senator Janice Bowling