Advocating for LBGTQ+ Rights in Tennessee
March 11, 2026
Re: Woodhull Freedom Foundation Opposition to Tennessee House Bill 1472 “Banning Bostock Act” and House Bill 1474 “No Pride Flag or Month Act”
My name is Ricci Levy, and I am the President and CEO of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, a national organization whose mission is to affirm sexual freedom as a fundamental human right. Woodhull protects individuals’ rights across the United States to enjoy sexual dignity, privacy, and consensual sexual expression without societal or governmental interference, coercion or stigmatization. As a representative of Woodhull and in my capacity as an expert on the human right to sexual freedom, I submit this letter to express our strong opposition to HB 1472 and HB 1474, both of which are being considered today in the Tennessee House Judiciary Committee.
Together, these bills represent an egregious attack on the LGBTQ+ community in Tennessee. HB 1472 threatens sex discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ individuals by explicitly stating that any state or local law prohibiting sex discrimination cannot be interpreted to prohibit discrimination based on homosexuality, transgender status, sexual orientation, sexual behavior, gender identity, or gender non-conforming behavior. HB 1474 erodes freedom of expression by prohibiting the display of any “LGBTQ flag or emblem” or representation using the word “pride” to support LGBTQ individuals on state or local government property.
At Woodhull, we are tracking bills and legislation like this, which target the LGBTQ+ community and are part of broader societal and political assaults on LGBTQ+ people. While the extremeness of these bills may make them seem like nothing more than political theater, they come at a time when Tennessee lawmakers are emboldened by the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, which upheld the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. HB 1472 is even titled “Banning Bostock Act”, which is a bald-faced challenge to the Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which established that discrimination protections under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extend to sexual orientation and gender identity.
These threats to LGBTQ+ people must not be minimized as they come at a time when President Trump’s administration is actively targeting this community. These attacks are enshrined in several White House Executive Orders which erase transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive people from public life and falsely treat sex as a fixed male and female binary, direct federal agencies to impede young people’s access to lifesaving gender-affirming healthcare, and ban trans women and girls from competing on sports teams that align with their gender. The assault on trans people is so dire that the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security has warned that policies targeting transgender people in the United States are indicative of the early stages of genocide.
Efforts to legislatively marginalize LGBTQ+ people threaten everyone’s sexual freedom. A decade ago, we celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Today, marriage equality is in danger, with the Idaho House passing a resolution in 2025 urging the Supreme Court to revisit this historic case and former Kentucky clerk Kim Davis petitioning the Supreme Court to overturn its ruling in the case. While the Supreme Court has so far declined to hear a case challenging marriage equality, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have explicitly called for Obergefell’s reversal, suggesting it needs to be reconsidered just as Roe v. Wade was, which stripped millions of people of their right to abortion access.
Our opposition to HB 1472 and HB 1474 is informed by this wide-sweeping assault on LGBTQ+ people and sexual freedom more broadly and by irrefutable facts about sexual orientation and gender identity, which we have exhaustively researched as part of our Fact Checked by Woodhull series. In this series, we address the fact that LGBTQ+ people are not a public danger but instead are in danger of harassment, discrimination, and violence, with current laws not sufficiently protecting LGBTQ+ people’s rights. The reality is that LGBTQ+ persons continue to face disproportionate violence and hate crimes, are subjected to slurs and jokes and face discrimination in public spaces, healthcare settings, housing, and in the workplace. HB 1472 and HB 1474 will only fuel this hate.
We urge members of the House Judiciary Committee to listen to your fellow committee member, Rep. Gloria Johnson, who warned that bills like HB 1472 and HB 1474 attempt to supersede federal law and threaten civil liberties. As Rep. Johnson correctly asserted, “You can’t just ignore the federal law. So, therein is the problem for those of us who believe in our U.S. Constitution.”
We strongly urge you and your colleagues to be on the side of human rights and protect the dignity, health, and safety of LGBTQ+ people by opposing HB 1472 and HB 1474.
Your consideration of these urgent matters is very much appreciated.