Tennessee state Rep. Monty Fritts (R), who is running for governor, has said he’d like a law to execute “those who commit an assault on the sanctity of life,” including those who assist children in securing gender-affirming medical care.

“I think we need a law in Tennessee that would allow for capital punishment for those who commit an assault on the sanctity of life,” he said in a recent conversation with Connor B., the host of the Christian Nationalist podcast Forge and Anvil.

Related

Attorney General threatens doctors with 10 years in prison for providing gender-affirming care

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

Fritts then said he thought four things would “require” capital punishment that also “aligns with scripture.”

“I think that anyone who would try to disfigure a child through hormones or surgery, you might be eligible to capital punishment,” he said, adding, “I know that’s gonna make people’s ears ring, but that’s a gross, great sin.”

Gender-affirming surgeries are almost never performed on minors, and most major medical associations consider gender-affirming care to be the best, most effective, and essential care for the overall well-being of children with gender dysphoria. That is, Fritts is seeking to punish parents and doctors for pursuing the best-practice standard of care.

Fritts is merely echoing right-wing disinformation about gender-affirming care. The current presidential administration has used similarly horrific language, calling gender-affirming care “child genital mutilation,” “chemical castration,” and saying it involves “irreversible surgeries.” In reality, puberty blockers are reversible and do not directly cause permanent infertility – if a child stops taking them, then they undergo puberty.

Furthermore, Fritts may not realize that numerous theologians and queer-affirming churches interpret Biblical scripture as being supportive of transgender people and gender transition.

Previously, Fritts sponsored a bill that allows religious leaders, judges, county clerks, notary publics, mayors, and legislative members to refuse to “solemnize a marriage” if they object based on their “conscience or religious beliefs.” The bill became law in February 2024.

Fritts said the law is intended to stop young people from committing elder abuse by marrying old people to access their bank accounts. However, many pointed out that there is no actual reason for the law aside from granting the license to discriminate, since there is currently nothing on the books in Tennessee requiring ordained folks to officiate marriages they’re against.

Officiant Eric A. Patton explained, “Solemnization is not issuing a license. When the clerk issues you a license, it’s issuing you a license. They are not performing the marriage rites.”

Patton told WKRN in March that he believes the legislation is merely trying to test the limits of marriage equality.

“There’s nothing in the law right now that says anybody has to do any kind of marriage at all, so there’s no clarification that this bill provides,” he said. “This bill does nothing, essentially, except open the opportunity for a lawsuit… The way they have vaguely worded this is that they’re trying to invite a Kim Davis-type lawsuit to go up against Obergefell, because they’re wanting to test the marriage equality law as it stands.”

Molly Whitehorn, associate director of regional campaigns for the Human Rights Campaign, criticized the law, saying, “Let’s be clear — this bill is intended to exclude LGBTQ+ folks from equal protection under the law.” Whitehorn added that the bill could also deny marriage rights to interracial couples or any couples that a public official objects to.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.