Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Tennesseans face some legal challenges that non-LGBT Tennesseans do not. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in the state. Marriage licenses have been issued to same-sex couples in Tennessee since the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015.
Sodomy law
The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the state's sodomy statute was unconstitutional in 1996 in the case of Campbell v. Sundquist.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Marriage
Prior to the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, Tennessee recognized neither same-sex marriages nor any other form of same sex-unions. The state banned same-sex marriage both by statute and by constitutional amendment.
In March 2023, the state house passed HB 878 to allow government employees to refuse to solemnize a marriage that went against their personal beliefs.
House Bill 1111
Domestic partnership
The cities of Collegedale and Knoxville together with the Metropolitan Area of Nashville and Davidson County have enacted domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples. The Chattanooga City Council voted to allow domestic partnerships in 2013, but this was repealed by voters in August 2014. However, same-sex marriages have been available throughout Tennessee since the June 2015 Supreme Court ruling overturning same-sex marriage bans nationwide.
Adoption and parenting
Tennessee allows single persons to adopt children. Same-sex couples may legally adopt in the state. In 2007, the Tennessee Attorney General released an opinion that no state law prohibited adoption by same-sex couples and that such adoptions could be made if in the child's best interest.
In January 2020, the Tennessee General Assembly, returning for its first session of the year, immediately passed a bill to allow adoption and welfare agencies to reject LGBTQ parents if the agency cited its “sincerely held religious beliefs." The exemption would protect the agencies from liability and lawsuits. 11 other US jurisdictions have similar laws. Governor Bill Lee signed the bill into law, and it took effect immediately.
Discrimination protections
State and federal
Tennessee law does not prohibit discrimination of the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Since 2020, the federal protections stemming from the Supreme Court's rulings in Bostock v. Clayton County and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have been available in Tennessee.
This was followed in January 2021 by executive orders from the Biden administration, enabling sanctions against schools and colleges that did not follow the directives of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or Department of Education on the protection of gay, lesbian and transgender students. Allowed actions against non-complying schools included legal action, civil penalties and withholding of federal funding. Twenty state-attorneys general joined a suit against enforcement of the executive order and on July 15, 2022, a federal judge of the Eastern District of Tennessee issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily preventing the two agencies from enforcing their directives under the presidential order. The federal discrimination protections still apply in all twenty states, only the specific enforcements outlined in the executive order are temporarily blocked, pending continuing legal proceedings.
Local
The cities of Knoxville, Memphis, Franklin, Chattanooga and the Metropolitan Area of Nashville and Davidson County have ordinances prohibiting discrimination in public employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, but these ordinances do not apply to private employers. The Equal Access to Interstate Commerce Act blocks this from being enforced.
HB 563
This "local preemption" bill would prevent government agencies from examining a business's anti-discrimination policies when deciding whether to hire that business for a taxpayer-funded contract. A scheduled vote in the Tennessee House was rescheduled from March 14, 2019, to March 21.