Tennessee House Passes Bill to Establish That There Are Only Two Sexes as Official State Policy
Tennessee Today

A bill that would establish that there are only two sexes as the official policy of Tennessee is back on the legislative calendar this year. As of Monday, the Tennessee House has passed the measure.

The bill’s sponsor, Representative Mark Cochran (R-Englewood), spoke of the premise of the bill on the House floor this Monday, stating “There are two sexes: male and female. That hasn’t been controversial for about the last 3,000 years, I don’t think it’s controversial today.” He emphasized that this bill simply reinforces an “objective biological reality.”

House Bill 1271 was introduced last year, where it passed the House Civil Justice Subcommittee with a vote of 6-1. It was then moved to the Judiciary Committee before it was rolled onto the second calendar of the 114th General Assembly. 

In regard to the bill, Rep. Cochran explained, “This one is pretty straightforward. We are just ensuring that it’s the official policy of the state that there are only two sexes, a biological male and a biological female, and ensuring, that the policy of our agencies, state sub-divisions, and any political sub-division, that their policy and procedures reflect that biological reality.”

When faced with questions from Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) on the necessity of the legislation, given that the state already has codified this definition, Rep. Cochran stated that “the impetus is to ensure we have an enforcement mechanism of those definitions,” before going on to clarify that enforcement will be on political sub-divisions and agencies, not on individuals. 

The bill quickly advanced through the remainder of the committee process this year, before being voted on by the House. The legislation passed with seventy-two for and sixteen against. It now heads to the Senate for consideration.