Teachers in Tennessee now have to out transgender students but can secretly carry guns to class

Two bills signed in Tennessee this past week are drastically changing the role of teachers in schools.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed a bill today that requires schools to out transgender students to their parents, despite warnings from LGBTQ+ advocates that outing can lead to harm as trans people are more likely to be abused by family members and be rejected by their families and end up in foster care or homeless.

Related: Federal appeals court upholds gender-affirming care bans in Tennessee & Kentucky

Advocacy organizations said the decision “ignored the extensive evidence from the actual medical experts.”

But state Rep. Mary Littleton (R) said that parents have a right to mistreat their kids for being transgender by, for example, sending them to conversion therapy.

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“I also think that possibly they could get that child some therapy that could help them solve their problems and make their way through school,” she said in a House floor speech.

Democrats said that keeping schools safe for kids is more important. A 2022 Trevor Project survey revealed that only 32% of trans and nonbinary youths felt that their home was a supportive and gender-affirming environment.

“We have a responsibility and an obligation to make sure schools are safe for children to learn in, and a part of that is to ensure that who they are and their identities are welcomed and are supported,” said state Rep. Justin Pearson (D).

When it comes to school safety, Republicans in Tennessee have other ideas. Gov. Lee signed a bill last week that allows public school teachers to conceal carry, calling the bill “a tool that will keep their children safe.”

Protestors chanted “Blood on your hands” during the final vote for the bill in the Tennessee General Assembly as opponents argued that having more guns in schools would decrease student safety.

“This is nothing but a bad disaster and tragedy waiting to happen if we do not ensure personal responsibility,” said Tennessee House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons. “Our children’s lives are at stake.”

Republicans countered with their belief that teachers could stop school shooters if they were armed. The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Ryan Williams (R), went so far as to say that school shootings happen because shooters know that teachers aren’t armed, saying that gun-free zones are places “people know they can go there and take advantage of folks.”

The law, which went into effect immediately, says that the school district, the principal, and law enforcement would have to agree to allow teachers to conceal carry at a school, but parents, students, and other teachers will not have a right to know which teachers are carrying a firearm.

Tennessee passed several other anti-LGBTQ+ laws in this legislative session, including a bill to allow anti-LGBTQ+ foster parents to care for LGBTQ+ children if they claim their religion is the reason for their homophobia or transphobia and a bill banning non-parental adults from taking trans kids out of state for gender-affirming care, based on the myth that teachers and other adults are turning kids transgender.

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