Tennessee Republicans are pushing anti-trans bills in a state that's already signed hate into law
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As Daily Kos has covered in the past, The Walt Disney Co. is finally taking a stand against the hateful, discriminatory Don’t Say Gay law in Florida. While at first the company’s response to the legislation was quite lackluster, CEO Bob Chapek has recently come around and promised more advocacy and action to repeal the legislation, in addition to putting a pause on all political donations in the state. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis seems unconcerned with Disney’s promise to better the state of Florida.
Sadly, this hateful legislation is not an outlier. We’ve seen countless anti-trans bills pop up around the nation, as well as several copycat bills eerily similar to the Don’t Say Gay legislation. We’re also seeing conservatives push the grooming angle in a way that’s deeply reminiscent of decades past. With all of this in mind, Charlee Disney, an heir to Disney, recently publicly came out as transgender and promised to do more to help their community.
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Disney, who is thirty years old and works as a biology teacher, told the Los Angeles Times they’ve been openly trans for the last several years, but came out more publicly last month while at a gala for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
“I don’t call senators or take action,” Disney told the outlet, saying they felt they hadn’t done much to help the community previously, and knew they could be doing more as an activist. Disney pledged a donation of $250,000 to the HRC, and from there, Disney’s parents (Roy P. Disney and his wife, Sheri Disney) promised to double their child’s donation.
While Charlee is very brave for coming out, and no one is ever obligated to do so, it’s also worth addressing that privilege exists across identities. Clearly, the Disney family is extremely well-positioned both financially and socially, and not standing up for your community in spite of your privilege is a choice. It’s great they’ve come around and are working to fight this legislation in a real way now, but it’s important to keep in mind that, say, a trans sex worker or a trans unhoused person does not have the same access to living peacefully.
In the bigger picture, the Tennessee Senate recently passed two bills seeking to oppress and discriminate against trans folks, as reported by the Tennessean. Both bills are sponsored by Republican Sen. Joey Hensley and both target trans girls who want to participate in girls’ sports. SB 2153 bans trans women from participating in sports at the college level and SB 1861 establishes financial consequences for public schools that opt out of determining a student’s gender as assigned at birth when it comes to what sports team they can play on.
He admitted he did not discuss the legislation with any trans people. He also admitted he does not know of situations in Tennessee that the bills would actually address.
If you’re thinking, “Wait, doesn’t Tennessee already have anti-trans legislation signed into law?” It does! These bills are efforts to make it even harder for trans people.
Times are dark right now when it comes to trans rights, but people are still fighting. For example, as highlighted by the Alabama Reporter, families in Alabama have already filed a federal lawsuit over the anti-trans law in their state banning safe, age-appropriate, gender-affirming health care for trans youth. The suit alleges that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by denying trans youth health care, the absence of which will lead to mental and physical distress.
Republican Governor Kay Ivey signed the legislation into law last Friday, so it’s heartening to see the suit move quickly, though we continue to have a long fight ahead of us.