Bill Lee, the Republican Governor of Tennessee, recently signed two unique pieces of legislation into law this past Thursday protecting kids from both sexually explicit drag shows and sex-change procedures.
This new law against sex-change treatments puts a crosshair on procedures such as mastectomies on girls who come to believe they are boys and makes it illegal to give children cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers. This bill managed to breeze through the Republican-held state House with a landslide vote of 77-16.
“We should not allow permanent, life-altering decisions that hurt children. With the partnership of the General Assembly, this practice should end in Tennessee,” stated Lee in the wake of investigations that revealed that Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) had carried out double mastectomies on children.
VUMC put a hard pause on all such surgeries in October 2022 after an inquiry from Republican legislators.
The law could end up falling into a number of legal challenges as Left-wing groups throughout the Volunteer State, such as the ACLU-TN, have publically promised to sue, claiming that the life-altering procedures are “necessary” for kids.
A second piece of legislation that was signed into law by the Republican governor puts a ban on all adults from impersonating the opposite sex while out in public or near where any kids could see it while appealing to prurient interests — that is, taking part in a sexually suggestive performance.
“The bill defines an ‘adult cabaret performance’ to mean a performance in a location other than an adult cabaret that features topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to prurient interest, or similar entertainers, regardless of whether or not performed for consideration,” explained the summary of the bill.
Anyone who stands in violation of the law could be slammed with a misdemeanor, and repeat offenders could face felony charges.