Our partnerships make our work possible. The first State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index released in 2019 was funded by a grant from the Gill Foundation. The Index is based on data graciously shared by the Movement Advancement Project and the Williams Institute. Ropes & Gray is our pro bono legal partner for the CEO Business Briefs globally, and their research informs this Index. FCB partnered with us to conduct original market research into American attitudes toward LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion, informing the Regional Context section of the State CEO Briefs. America Competes supported the development of the scoring for the Risk Assessments, particularly for the Future Risk score.

Out Leadership and FCB partnered on original market research into the attitudes of American workers on LGBTQ+ inclusion, which fielded in 2019 and 2020. These briefs as a whole will be updated on an ongoing basis by Out Leadership because we recognize the ever-changing nature of policy on the local, state, and national level.

LGBTQ+ workers in the Southeast are the most likely to be out at work (54.4%), but they are also 25% more likely to to feel that covering behaviors are important for workplace success. More broadly, non-LGBTQ+ workers in this region preferred for businesses to demonstrate their support for the LGBTQ+ community using internal initiatives (like hiring more LGBTQ+ employees and creating more inclusive HR policies). However, non-LGBTQ+ workers in this region were 57% less likely to approve of more public demonstrations of support (like withdrawing sponsorship from sporting events in less inclusive areas). LGBTQ+ workers in this region are 39% more likely to support inclusive businesses and 17% more likely to consider LGBTQ+ friendliness in making spending decisions compared to the non-LGBTQ+ workers nationwide. However, there is a perception that state leadership speaks about the LGBTQ+ community in a more negative way (39% more likely than nationwide), which could partially explain why the LGBTQ+ workers in the Southeast are 19% more likely to say that they would be open to moving to a different state where there is better LGBTQ+ support.

Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons for more or less likely are compared to the National results.  Regional results are based off of 1,500 respondents (LGBTQ+ and Non-LGBTQ+ responses have been weighted to be age-representative for each audience in each region).  National results are based off of 600 respondents representative of each audience (LGBTQ+ vs Non-LGBTQ+).

States in the Southeast region included: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee,Virginia, West Virginia.

Legal Status of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Community

• The Equal Access to Intrastate Commerce Act (EAICA) prohibits local governments in Tennessee from extending non-discrimination protections to groups not protected by the Tennessee Human Rights Act (THRA). Because the THRA does not protect sexual orientation or gender identity, the EAICA prevents local governments from enacting generally applicable ordinances prohibiting LGBT+ discrimination. The EAICA also limits the definition of “sex” in the THRA to “refer […] only to the designation of an individual person as male or female as indicated on the individual’s birth certificate.”
• Four local governments have taken advantage of a small exception in the EAICA that permits municipalities to provide additional non-discrimination protections to their own employees. Chattanooga, Memphis, Knoxville, and the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County have all passed local ordinances protecting their employees from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
• Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services has a nondiscrimination policy stating that it will “provide services to all children/youth to ensure safety and well-being, to promote dignity and respect for all children/youth and families inclusive of their gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, and to protect their civil rights consistent with State and Federal laws including youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex.”
• However, in January 2020, Gov. Bill Lee signed a law allowing adoption agencies to discriminate against potential LGBT+ parents on the basis of religion. At least 35 major companies warned that the measure will bring economic harm to the state by dissuading businesses from operating or expanding there.
• Tennessee’s criminal law includes a sentencing enhancement if a defendant’s crime was partly or wholly motivated by an animus against a protected group. This hate-crime law explicitly covers individuals who were targeted “because of the defendant’s belief or perception” about the victim’s sexual orientation.
• Tennessee permits conversion therapy.
• “Don’t Say Gay Bill” is an updated version of a previously filed TN bill that aims to censor LGBTQ+ content in public school textbooks and instructional materials.

Legal Status of the Transgender Community

• As of 2021, trans minors in Tennessee are not allowed to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity at school and are deprived of gender-affirming healthcare. Trans girls are banned from girls’ sports teams.  
• In March 2018, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit — which includes Tennessee — held that discrimination on the basis of transgender or transitioning status violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Tennessee is the last state that explicitly prohibits an individual from changing the sex listed on their birth certificate following gender reassignment surgery. There are multiple lawsuits challenging this law in court.
• Tennessee requires “[a] statement from the attending physician that necessary medical procedures to accomplish the change in gender are complete” in order for an individual to change the gender on their driver’s license.
• There is no explicit requirement that an individual must change the name on their license in order to change the listed gender.
• If a person does wish to change his or her name, they can petition the local circuit, probate or county court. An individual who has been convicted of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or a sex crime cannot change their name. Individuals who have been convicted of any other felony must demonstrate that the name-change request won’t harm public safety.
• TennCare — Tennessee’s Medicaid program — specifically excludes gender confirmation surgery from coverage. It does not explicitly exclude hormone treatment from coverage.
• Tennessee law does not prohibit private insurers from writing policies with transgender-specific exclusions.
• Tennessee’s Attorney General recently issued a formal opinion stating that the hate-crime provision that provides a sentencing enhancement if a defendant’s crime was partly or wholly motivated by an animus against a protected group applies when a defendant targets a transgender individual.
• TN SB1861 was introduced in January 2022, which requires the commissioner of education to withhold a portion of the education finance funds to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) if the LEA refuses/fails to determine a student’s gender for purposes of participation in school sports.  
• TN HB1895 was signed and enacted by Gov. Bill Lee that prohibits transgender youth in participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.
• TN HB2316 was introduced in February 2022 that would “prohibit biological males from participating in intercollegiate and intramural sports that are designed for females.”
• TN SB2777 was introduced in February 2022 that would allow public school teachers to refuse to use a student’s preferred pronoun if the pronoun is not consistent with the student’s biological sex. 
• TN SB0657 was introduced in February 2022 that would criminalize the provisions of gender affirming health care to minors unless the parent/guardian has written a recommendation from a minimum of three physicians. 

Government Statements and Actions

• Gov. Bill Lee signed a law in 2021 allowing parents to opt their kids out of LGBTQ-related school curricula.
• He also signed into law a policy that businesses allowing gender-affirmative restroom use must display a sign shaming them about it.
• In 2017, the Tennessee governor signed a “plain meaning” bill into law that requires “undefined terms [to] be given their natural and ordinary meaning.” Groups such as the ACLU of Tennessee and the Tennessee Equality Project argued against the law, on the grounds that it could facilitate the interpretation of laws in ways that are detrimental to LGBT+ individuals.
• In recent years, the state assembly has regularly considered a wide range of legislation that would curtail LGBT+ rights in Tennessee.
• Senator Marsha Blackburn expressed vocal support for former President Trump’s transgender military ban — since rolled back by Joe Biden — and she opposed the Violence Against Women Act specifically because it included LGBT+ provisions.
• The mayor of Nashville issued an executive order to add LGBT+ as a recognized category of minority-owned business for government procurement.
• Tennessee’s state colleges and universities include sexual orientation and gender identity in their non-discrimination policies.
• In March 2021, HB0003, also known as “Attack on Trans Athletes
  was signed into law that dismisses a student’s self-identifying gender by re-assigning their gender, based on their birth certificate, in order to participate in school sports.