A federal judge has struck down a Tennessee law that would force businesses to post signs with discriminatory language directed at transgender people.
The so-called “Business Bathroom Bill,” which was signed into law by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee in May 2021, would require businesses and other entities that choose to allow transgender people to use the restroom that matches their gender to post a government-prescribed warning sign.
Those who refuse to comply could face up to six months in jail.
The bill was immediately slammed by concerned business owners and LGBTQ rights advocates, who called it “degrading and dehumanizing.”
District Attorney General Glenn Funk also said that he would not enforce it because “every person is welcome and valued in Nashville,” and the “enforcement of transphobic or homophobic laws is contrary to those values.”
On June 25, 2021, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of business owners in Nashville and Chattanooga, arguing that the law violated the First Amendment.
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About two weeks later, on July 9, 2021, District Judge Aleta Trauger granted a preliminary injunction against the law’s enforcement.
Tuesday’s ruling strikes down the law permanently.
One of the plaintiffs, Bob Bernstein, said in a statement that “as a former journalist, I believe strongly in free speech.”
Bernstein, the owner of Fido, a restaurant in Nashville, was vehemently opposed to having to display a message that would be hurtful to transgender people in his own business. “The government can’t just force people to post discriminatory, inaccurate, and divisive signs in their places of business,” he said. “I am glad that the court recognized that this law violates the First Amendment.”
Indeed, the court recognized that “It would do a disservice to the First Amendment to judge the Act for anything other than what it is: a brazen attempt to single out trans-inclusive establishments and force them to parrot a message that they reasonably believe would sow fear and misunderstanding about the very transgender Tennesseans whom those establishments are trying to provide with some semblance of a safe and welcoming environment.”
“This signage law was simple cruelty — and cruelty is unjust,” noted Henry Seaton, ACLU of Tennessee transgender justice advocate, who said he was “thrilled” with the outcome.
“We’ll continue our pursuit of trans justice to its fullest extent, and hope that the trans and non-binary community feels relief and hope from this ruling,” he added.