(TN) A new law bars doctors from asking kids about gender.

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

A new law bars doctors from asking kids about gender. Allies say it'll harm children & clinics.

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/06/a-new-law-bars-doctors-from-asking-kids-about-gender-allies-say-itll-harm-children-clinics/ 🔗

Greg Owen (9 June 2026)

Advocacy groups are criticizing a new Tennessee law, House Bill 1665, signed in April by Gov. Bill Lee (R), which prohibits doctors from asking minor patients questions about gender. The law takes effect in October. Advocacy groups say it's an "unnecessary" attack on the LGBTQ+ community and likely disastrous for children suffering from gender dysphoria.

"Everyone should be alarmed by the scale of government control over doctors' and patients' speech under this law," say the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), in a new report detailing the corrosive effects of the law.

The law requires that medical providers inform parents before doctors ask children "sensitive" gender questions. It also prohibits insurance companies and managed care groups from asking gender-related questions on medical questionnaires.

According to TEP and HRC's report, the law is based on an assertion by its legislative sponsors that "asking minor patients questions about gender identity in clinical settings is upsetting and confuses or influences them into being transgender." No Democrats voted in favor of the bill.

The report asserts there is no empirical evidence to confirm the bill's claim that asking minors a "yes/no" question about gender identity is "coercive or causative" of transgender identity.

"Asking minors objective questions about gender identity is necessary to access developmentally appropriate and life-saving health prevention services. Our report clearly outlines the ways laws that intimidate doctors through medical censorship will lead to more mental distress and even worse health outcomes for transgender, gender diverse and intersex minors," Bean Chapman, legislative analyst for Equality Project, said in a statement reported by the Tennessee Lookout.

[Lori Dee ✅]

But if doctors do not ask, insurance companies do not record it, and nothing gets entered into the medical records, then Texas AG Ken Paxton cannot subpoena their records. The providers can honestly say, "We don't know. We didn't ask." (wink, wink)

Then the doctors talk with the parents, get permission, and discuss the issues. Bill the insurance for a "routine checkup" and enter nothing in the record except vital signs. Everyone walks away giving Paxton a finger.

Malicious Compliance.
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