In Tennessee, if you were born a boy you can not play sports as if you were really a girl.

by Rod Williams - It doesn't matter if one is physically all male and simply identifies as a female, or if by a process of breast implants and surgeries and hormones one looks female except still has a penis, or if one has gone for the full transition and the penis has been turned into a vagina; if you were born male, as shown on your original birth certificate, you can not complete in Tennessee public schools sports as if you were female. Also, the reverse is true and women cannot compete as men. 

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed into law SB 0228 that makes this the law.  The reason for this bill is to protect women's sports.  When men compete as women, they usually have an advantage over real women.  The LBTQ community and liberal organizations are having a conniption. They call this discrimination against transgender teens.

What will happen now is unknown. Probably, somewhere a student who was born male will attempt to compete as a female. The school will follow the law and not allow the student to compete. Some organization, such as The Trevor Project or maybe the ACLU, will file suit and allege this is  sexual discrimination. No matter which side wins, the losing side is likely to appeal the decision. If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the appeal then it will be argued and the Supreme Court will hand down a ruling.  If the Court does not agree to hear the appeal then which ever way the District Court rules will determine the status of the law, unless two different Districts reach different conclusions in which case the Supreme Court is likely to hear the case.

Also, President Joe Biden has sought to bar gender discrimination in many areas, including school sports, through a January executive order. The EO does not directly address the issue of transgender's students playing sports competing in the gender category with which they identify, but opens the door to allege that to deny them to do so is to violate sections of the Civil Rights Act. Basically, the January EO could change the meaning of "sex" in federal law and whereas it did mean "male" or "female,"  now when "sex" is used in Federals laws it could be interpreted to include transgendered people despite that not being the meaning a the time the law was passed. This could lead to federal education funding being withheld.   Simply having a law such as the new Tennessee law on the books is not likely to trigger policies that lead to punitive action against the state.  The law would actually have to be applied.  So, when the law is tested and enforced, and the Federal government does, if it does, attempt to penalized a state, then the state is likely to challenge the legitimacy of the EO. There are limits as to how far executive action can go in compelling state policy changes. So the legitimacy of the EO is likely to be challenged in court. 

So, this is not settled and Tennessee may not be the place in which it is settled. Similar laws have been passed or are pending in twenty-one other states.  If the challenge to a similar law is resolved in another state which is also in the 6th District Court of Appeals then the status of Tennessee's law would also be determined by that ruling. However, if different district appeals courts rule differently, this is likely to be decided in the supreme court.

For more on this see this link, and this link. 

Top Stories