Tennessee

Tennessee Enacts First-In-The-Nation Law To Stop Adults From Helping Minors Access Gender-Affirming Care

Published

2 years ago

May 30, 2024

Tennessee Enacts First-In-The-Nation Law To Stop Adults From Helping Minors Access Gender-Affirming Care

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) on Tuesday signed a first-in-the-nation law to block adults from helping trans youth receive gender-affirming care without their parents’ consent.

Under the law, known as House Bill 2310, anyone who helps a child access gender-affirming care within Tennessee state lines can be sued for compensation by the minor or the minor’s parents. There are exceptions for the child’s own parents or legal guardians, for adults who have permission from the minor’s parents, and for transportation companies, like those that operate ride-sharing apps, buses or airlines, that a minor could take to get to a gender-affirming care clinic.

A previous version of the law included a criminal penalty, making anyone who “recruits, harbors, or transports an unemancipated minor within this state for the purpose of receiving a prohibited medical procedure” chargeable with a Class C felony.

Lee’s office did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

Tennessee had already banned gender-affirming care for minors — measures that can include puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy and, in rare instances, gender-affirming surgery — last July, when Lee signed an earlier bill, Senate Bill 1, into effect.

“I want to be clear that this in no way bars parents or legal guardians from helping their child access to medical care that they need out-of-state,” Bryan Davidson, a policy director at the ACLU Tennessee, told HuffPost.

“I think that this is an attempt by the legislature to try to use misinformation and intimidation to try to get parents and families to self-censor themselves and to police their own behavior. That is the concerning part.”

If the problem of adults transporting minors across state lines were indeed a major issue, Davidson said, Tennessee already has a law on the books for that. “It’s called kidnapping,” he said.

The gender-affirming care ban, S.B. 1, was temporarily blocked for certain residents thanks to a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union, but a federal appeals court ruled in the fall to allow the ban to stand.

Advocacy groups are now waiting to see if the Supreme Court will take up the ACLU’s challenge to S.B. 1, known as L.W. v. Skrmetti, and weigh in on the question of who is allowed to make medical decisions for minors seeking gender-affirming care. If this highest court does take up the challenge to Tennessee’s ban, it could have precedent-setting ramifications for other states’ restrictions on care.

Lee signed a separate bill on Tuesday that penalizes “abortion trafficking of a minor” and makes it a misdemeanor office for a person to help a minor obtain an abortion or abortion-inducing drugs without consent from the minor’s parents. Several GOP-led states — most notably Idaho — have passed similar laws since the reversal of Roe v. Wade two years ago.

The two new laws go into effect July 1.

Tennessee’s state legislature, which has a Republican supermajority, has long been an early adopter of new kinds of anti-LGBTQ legislation. As governor, Lee has never issued a veto on an anti-LGBTQ bill, and the state has far outpaced the rest of the country in terms of anti-LGBTQ legislation.

During this year’s legislative session, Lee enacted at least eight new anti-LGBTQ+ laws. This includes laws that force school administrators to tell parents if their child asks to use a name or gender marker that differs from their birth certificate; allow people to refuse to perform same-sex marriages; permit foster families to discriminate against LGBTQ+ kids; and eliminate the state’s human rights commission.

Last year, Tennessee became the first state to enact a drag ban, and blocked performances from taking place anywhere in public where children could be present. A federal judge ruled that ban unconstitutional, but the state Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is trying to argue for the ban to be applied in private spaces, as well.

The state also garnered national attention last year after Skrmetti probed Vanderbilt University Medical Center for the records of trans patients — both minors and adults — after a Nashville-based right-wing media figure posted an inflammatory, misleading information on Twitter about the hospital’s treatments for transgender children. The Department of Health and Human Services has since opened an investigation into Vanderbilt’s release of patient medical records.

“Tennessee has become a sort of policy laboratory for attacks on LGBTQ+ folks at the state level,” said Davidson. “The anti-LGBTQ legislation is largely driven to appease the small fringe activist base in Tennessee.”

Davidson added that Tennessee is one of the most “egregiously gerrymandered states in the nation” and has one of the lowest rates of voter turnout, allowing more extreme rhetoric and policy to flourish.

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Tennessee

Tennessee’s Ban on THCA

Published

1 hour ago

June 11, 2026

Press Room

June 11, 2026

Phillip Smith

Photo by pariwat pannium

In the wake of the passage of the 2018 farm bill legalizing hemp, the Volunteer State saw an explosion in sales of intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products. Tennessee has not legalized marijuana or medical marijuana, leaving the field wide-open for psychoactive edibles, gummies, and beverages derived from hemp.

That state of affairs sparked blowback from lawmakers, who began attempting to ban hemp-derived intoxicating substances back in 2022, amidst complaints about a “Wild West” hemp scene in the state. Last year, legislators finally managed to pass a measure to rein in the sector, House Bill 1376, which goes into effect on July 1.

That bill transfers the regulation of hemp cannabinoid products from the Department of Agriculture to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission and allows sales at businesses with liquor licenses for either on- or off-site consumption, as well as by hemp cannabinoid manufacturers with a retail outlet on the same premises.

But those products will contain less than 0.3 percent total THC because the new law includes THCA, which transforms into THC when burned, and synthetic cannabinoids in calculating permissible THC levels.

As the bill’s summary puts it, “This bill instead specifies that THCa is not a HDCP [hemp-derived cannabinoid product] and defines THCa as the precursor of delta-9 THC. This bill also specifies that a synthetic cannabinoid is not a HDCP and defines ‘synthetic cannabinoid’ to mean a substance with a similar chemical structure and pharmacological activity to a cannabinoid, but that is not extracted or derived from hemp plants, or hemp plant parts, and is instead created or produced by chemical or biochemical synthesis.”

Industry experts estimated that the new law will wipe out 75 percent of hemp sales, calling it a “death blow” for the state’s hemp industry.

One lawmaker, Rep. John Crawford (R), said there is a hemp cannabinoid wholesaler in his district who will likely be forced out of business.

“I have a really hard time with that we gave them permission over the last year, and now we’re taking that back,” Crawford said.

The ban will not only hurt the hemp sector but also impact the state’s budget. Revenue officials have already slashed this year’s expected hemp wholesale tax revenues from $55 million to $10 million.

In 2022, when lawmakers were first considering a ban on hemp cannabinoids, the legislative fiscal review committee estimated that the state’s industry was worth about $180 million. It will be a tiny fraction of that in the future.

This first appeared in the American Hemp Monitor.

Phillip Smith is the editor of the American Hemp Monitor. He has reported on the hemp industry and regulatory affairs for more than 20 years. He lives across the road from a hemp farm in Southern Oregon.

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Tennessee

Wanted murder suspect sought by US Marshals, TBI says

Published

11 hours ago

June 10, 2026

Press Room

Wanted murder suspect sought by US Marshals, TBI says

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — The U.S. Marshals Service is asking for the public’s help in locating a Tennessee man wanted on a second-degree murder charge.

According to the U.S. Marshals Service, 38-year-old Jesse Wayne Phillips is wanted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Authorities said Phillips was last known to be in Clinton County, Kentucky, on May 28.

The Marshals Service said Phillips has an extensive violent criminal history and should be considered armed and dangerous.

Phillips is described as a white male with brown hair and brown eyes. Authorities said he is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs about 225 pounds.

Officials are offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to Phillips’ arrest.

Anyone with information about Phillips’ whereabouts is asked to contact the U.S. Marshals Service at 1-877-WANTED2 or call 911. Tips can also be submitted by email to USMStips@usdoj.gov.

Authorities urged the public not to approach Phillips and instead contact law enforcement immediately if he is seen.

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Tennessee

Comparing Tennessee’s Neyland Entertainment District to others in college sports

Published

22 hours ago

June 10, 2026

Press Room

Comparing Tennessee’s Neyland Entertainment District to others in college sports

When the University of Tennessee opens the Neyland Entertainment District in 2028, it’ll be among the first colleges with an on-campus mixed-use sports entertainment development, but far from the last.

About a dozen universities are building entertainment districts with restaurants, retail, hotels, condos, conference centers and green spaces alongside their stadium or arena.

Iowa State’s CyTown and Wake Forest’s The Grounds will open in 2027. Kansas will open its Gateway District in 2028.

Other examples already exist. Arizona State’s Novus Place district connects Tempe Town Lake to its football stadium like UT envisions blending the Tennessee Riverfront into the Neyland Entertainment District. And Florida State’s College Town has become a year-round hub for students in addition to gamedays.

In the SEC, a few schools are at various stages of building or planning their own entertainment district as they watch Tennessee take the first steps in sort of an arms race involving public-private partnerships in this era of college sports.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey praised Tennessee, telling Knox News that the Neyland Entertainment District plans “seem quite well thought out and intentional.”

UT will begin work in July with the demolition of the G10 garage, the future site of its ambitious development.

Let’s look at other entertainment districts and how they’ll compare to Neyland Entertainment District.

How Neyland Entertainment District is proactive rather than reactive

Some schools are developing a sports entertainment district to solve a problem.

Florida State had a rundown neighborhood in Tallahassee between Doak Campbell Stadium and Donald L. Tucker Civic Center that fans avoided after dark on gamedays. The College Town district was completed on that site in 2019, transforming the area into a gameday hub with shops, sports bars, restaurants and a boutique hotel.

North Dakota State is developing an entertainment district next to the Fargodome with outdoor plazas featuring retractable roofs, inviting fans to spend money around the stadium during cold weather.

Similarly, mid-major schools are trying to give fans more reasons to attend games and hang around long after the stadium has closed.

South Florida has strong attendance for an American Conference program, but it wants to grow further. The USF Fletcher District, a $268 million development, is being built in Tampa with that in mind.

Opening in 2028, it will feature retail, restaurants, student apartments and a hotel with “an impressive view of USF’s new on-campus stadium set against the downtown skyline in the distance.”

Tennessee has made a similar pledge with a condo-hotel featuring a rooftop bar overlooking Neyland Stadium.

But the difference is that Tennessee doesn’t have a noticeable gameday problem. It touts among college football’s largest stadiums, highest attendance and best gameday atmospheres.

Critics say Tennessee is solving a problem that doesn’t exist. But UT leaders believe they are ahead of the competition.

“We are going to be pursuing public-private partnerships in almost everything we try to do going forward to move the university to the next level,” UT Chancellor Donde Plowman said. “This is one very bold and dramatic opportunity.”

Notably, many other universities are planning entertainment districts like UT, only a few years behind, and they include SEC schools.

These SEC schools are planning entertainment districts

Some SEC schools are landlocked, and others see their best opportunities off campus.

Oklahoma’s Rock Creek Entertainment District, a $1.1 billion development, is being built six miles from the Norman campus. It will be anchored by a new Sooners basketball and gymnastics arena, hoping to sustain better game attendance.

LSU wants to build a new basketball arena and entertainment district on its current golf course on campus in Baton Rouge. But it’s hit several snags, including a lawsuit challenging a proposed sales tax increase to build the development. That will likely stall LSU’s project for a few years.

But where there’s room, some SEC schools are trying to wedge an entertainment district alongside their stadium or arena. UT’s entertainment district will be built between Neyland Stadium and Food City Center.

Ole Miss will break ground on a 25-acre entertainment district surrounding Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford as early as 2027, putting it about a year behind Tennessee. Like the Neyland Entertainment District, the Ole Miss version will include a condo-hotel, restaurants, retail and a team store.

South Carolina is renovating Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, but an adjacent entertainment district is still in the developmental stage. The university owns nearly 900 acres next to the stadium, but almost all of it is in a flood zone. Working through that problem could delay the district for a few years.

Kentucky is finalizing its plans for a Kroger Field entertainment district in Lexington. The initial design called for most of the completion in 2027, but that appears unlikely because the project hasn’t broken ground yet.

First, UK must demolish Bluegrass Community and Technical College at the site of the future entertainment district.

Has Tennessee solved problems that other schools face?

Tennessee announced the Neyland Entertainment District in 2023, and brainstorming on the project began long before that. UT has already solved many of the problems that other schools are encountering.

LSU is amid a funding fight over its proposed entertainment district. But UT Chief Financial Officer David Miller said Tennessee will rake in revenue while bearing no financial risk in the $280 million Neyland project.

UT will finance an estimated $83 million to build the new G10 garage through Tennessee State School Bonds, which is typical for parking garages on campus. And the university will collect parking revenue.

Otherwise, UT will put no money into the project and act as landlord. The developer will pay UT an annual base rent of $1.5 million plus between 3-5% of gross revenue above $25 million annually from the condo-hotel and entertainment space in separate payments.

South Carolina would lose almost seven acres of parking to build its entertainment district, so it must account for that complication. But Tennessee plans to build the Neyland Entertainment District vertically and add parking spaces in a new G10 garage.

Fan frustration comes with every entertainment district

But all these entertainment districts come with growing pains that fans must endure.

Frustrated Wake Forest fans have dealt with gameday traffic and parking problems during the construction of a $250 million entertainment district called The Grounds. And it’s still a year away from completion.

Tennessee fans have already voiced their concerns about potential parking issues when the G10 garage is unavailable in the 2026 football season.

Kansas will have limited capacity for home football games in 2026 because one side of its stadium in Lawrence is a construction zone, including the adjacent entertainment district. The restaurants, hotel and parking garage won’t be complete until 2028, and some Jayhawk fans wonder if it’s worth the headache.

A quick search of fan message boards where these entertainment districts are planned reveals common complaints.

Is the university prioritizing money over academics? Will the traditional campus vibe be replaced by a strip mall? Does a boutique hotel cater to elite donors over common fans?

Those questions are being asked across numerous college fan bases, and perhaps they’ll be answered. But it appears entertainment districts are here to stay in college sports.

Tennessee will be among the first but certainly not the last.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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