Amid the absolute onslaught of anti-trans bills pushed forward by the GOP, 2021 has given us a different kind of anti-trans bathroom bill. As Daily Kos covered, Republican Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee signed the measure back in May. What would the law, originally set to go into effect on July 1, require? Businesses and government facilities would have to display signs clarifying that they allowed transgender folks to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. Of course, all bathrooms should be inclusive to anyone who wants to use them. And using language like the one required by the measure frames bathroom access as something that requires a “warning” to cisgender folks, feeding into the incorrect idea that trans people are dangerous. 

Thankfully, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of two businesses in the state that were against the hateful law. On Friday, July 9, U.S. District Judge Aleta A. Trauger for the Middle District of Tennessee granted a preliminary injunction. What does this mean? Trauger essentially blocked the implementation of the law in the state.

First, the language of the signs in question: “This facility maintains a policy of allowing the use of restrooms by either biological sex, regardless of the designation on the restroom.” Obviously, the tone here is considerably different than displaying, say, a Rainbow flag or simply labeling bathrooms as “unisex” or “open for all.” It also categorizes people as their biological sex rather than gender identity; one could say, for example, that a restroom is available for all women, including trans women, instead of saying for all women, including those assigned male at birth. Some may consider this distinction to be simple semantics, but words have serious power and implications. 

Plaintiffs also homed in on the language, expressing concern that the sign may offend trans and intersex folks because of the “term ‘biological sex’ because of the political controversy and anti-transgender animus surrounding that phrase.” 

The sign wouldn’t be optional, either. Under the law, businesses would have 30 days to post the sign at the entrance of each public, gendered bathroom in the building. For example, if a bathroom was for women only, the sign would have to go up. And if they didn’t? The business could technically be subject to a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail.

“We are glad the court saw that this law is likely unconstitutional,” Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee, said in a statement. “And hope that the state gives up the wasteful effort to defend discrimination and a violation of the First Amendment.”

“Restaurants and performing spaces are businesses,” Trauger wrote in her ruling. “But that is not all they are; they are also among the most important physical locations in which communities—so often consigned, in this era, to electronic space—can gather and grow together in a manner rooted in a particular neighborhood, in a particular city, in a particular state.”

This point is an important one. It’s not just about using the bathroom (though bathroom access is, in itself, a health and disability access issue no matter your gender identity). It’s also about who has access to public spaces and who doesn’t. If you’re afraid or unable to use a restroom, you’re going to have a harder time literally being out and about in the world. You’re going to face more barriers to socializing, participating in your community, and even running errands or other “normal” tasks. Emotionally, you may also experience anxiety, dread, and a sense of isolation.

These anti-trans bathroom bills are little more than an effort to stoke anti-trans hysteria—and to push trans folks into hiding, which is a hateful, abusive act in itself.