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GOP lawmakers approve bill to let patients sue doctors for “coercing” them into gender transitions
Photo #9348 March 27 2026, 08:15

In a 24 to 5 vote on Monday, the Tennessee Senate passed a bill that would allow people to sue doctors for “coercing” them into gender transitions for up to 18 years after the care in question took place.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Adam Lowe (R), reportedly provided no examples of health care providers trying to convince people to get gender-affirming care, but called it “asinine” to avoid action simply because the state doesn’t have a “grasp” of everything that goes on between patients and doctors, The Tennessee Lookout reported.

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Another state Sen., Heidi Campbell (D), spoke out against the bill, saying, “It pains me personally that we spend so much time attacking transgender people in our state,” especially considering the state’s “negligible” number of trans residents.

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The bill now moves to the Republican-controlled state House, which has proven its willingness to pass anti-trans legislation.

Tennessee, in fact, was at the center of the Supreme Court case U.S. v. Skrmetti, which ruled that the state’s ban on gender-affirming care does not discriminate on the basis of sex or transgender status, which the plaintiffs argued made it unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause. The ruling allowed the 25 states that currently have such bans on the books to continue to enforce them.

Another anti-LGBTQ+ bill moving through the state legislature, however, died in a Senate committee on Tuesday.

The “No Pride Flag or Month Act” sought not only to ban Pride flags from state property, but also to ban any recognition of June as Pride month.

State Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D), a member of the Senate State and Local Government Committee, said there would be no way to pass the bill “without just wildly overreaching on freedom of speech.”

“I think it’s wrong and inappropriate to target this group,” he said, according to Nashville Scene, “but it’s wrong and inappropriate to target any group like this.”

A Republican state Senator, Page Walley, voted no alongside two Democrats, causing the 3-3 tie that tabled the bill. But Walley said it was because local governments should decide these policies for themselves.

“I’m just very uncomfortable as we look at clawing back local government’s ability to make decisions,” Walley said. “We often will say, ‘The best government is that closest to the people.’ This [decision] is closest to the people, and I’m always reluctant to remove local authority.”

Rep. Gino Bulso (R), who did not sponsor the bill but strongly advocated for it, said it was a matter of protecting children and claimed LGBTQ+ people are “targeting” minors and trying to “indoctrinate” them.

“I would have thought that all reasonable people can agree that we should not be displaying political flags in our elementary and middle and high schools,” Bulso said. “If that continues to go on, and if I continue to hear complaints about it from parents in our district, we’ll be bringing it back.”

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