Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Tennessee may experience some legal challenges that non-LGBTQ residents do not.

[4] In November 2023, the city of Murfreesboro within Rutherford County, Tennessee formally removed "homosexuality" from its local ordinance that criminalizes it[5][6] after being ordered to do so by U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw on October 20, 2023.

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.

[11][12] The cities of Collegedale[13] and Knoxville[14] together with the Metropolitan Area of Nashville and Davidson County[15][16] have enacted domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples.

[23] Before its passage, Aftyn Behn called the bill discriminatory and stated that its very name implied the parents need protection from the children they've agreed to foster.

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.

[33] On March 7, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (covering Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee) ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination against transgender people under the category of sex.

She was promptly fired by her boss who said that "gender transition violat[es] God's commands because a person's sex is an immutable God-given fit.

On July 26, 2022, Brandon J. Smith, Chief of Staff for then Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H Slatery III, signed a court filing of a lawsuit wherein the states of Tennessee, Indiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia all sued the US federal government, specifically the US Department of Agriculture; Cindy Long, the Administrator of Food and Nutrition Service at the USDA; and Roberto Contreras, the Director of Food and Nutrition Service Civil Rights Division at the USDA.

The order prevented discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, a blanket directive to comply with the Bostock SCOTUS decision.

Memo CRD 01-2022 set forth policies to make certain that no discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity takes place when states process applications for SNAP benefits.

[41] U.S. District Judge Travis R. McDonough decided the case on March 29, 2023, ruling that the plaintiff states were exaggerating the issues at hand.

to prohibit such food assistance discrimination upend everything from free speech and religious freedom to living facilities and sports teams?

"[42] He went on to grant the USDA's motion to dismiss the case, at one point saying, “This case is about food stamps and nutrition education, not bathrooms, sports teams, free speech, or religious exercise,” and continuing, "Plaintiff States’ insistence to the contrary is no more than an invitation to join a political discussion untethered to applicable statutes and precedent.”[42][43] As of March 2023, current Tennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti's office is considering an appeal.

"[56] The ACLU filed suit on April 23, 2024 in Davidson County on behalf of a transgender woman who legally transitioned and was denied the right to change her gender as it appears on her driver's license by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

[60] In February 2023, the ban was expanded to make it illegal to provide gender-affirming healthcare to any trans person under 18, both in-state and via telehealth from out of state.

[67][68][69][70] A federal court issued a partial temporary injunction on June 28, 2023,[71] saying, "If Tennessee wishes to regulate access to certain medical procedures, it must do so in a manner that does not infringe on the rights conferred by the United States Constitution, which is of course supreme to all other laws of the land.

[75][76][77][78] One of the reasons cited for removing the injunction was the Dobbs case; another was that the court said it saw no evidence that the treatment at issue is "deeply rooted in our history and traditions.

"[79][80] The dissenting justice, Judge White, said that she believed the law to be unconstitutional and because of that she would have only narrowed the scope of the injunction rather than issued a stay as the Appellate Court chose to do.

[94] The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on 24 June 2024 to review the legality of Tennessee's Republican-backed ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, following an appeal by President Biden's administration.

Similar bans in other states claim to protect children from harmful treatments, while medical associations support gender-affirming care as essential.

[123] Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw ordered a partial grant of summary judgement that enjoins the school against enforcing the Gender in Athletics Law or revised policy I-171 to prevent the student from playing boys' interscholastic golf on March 29, 2024.

[138] In May 2024, a law took effect (immediately upon Governor Bill Lee's signature) to require schools to notify parents if their child asks to be called by a different name or pronoun.

[141][142] Tennessee House Representative Mary Littleton claimed that the law would enable parents to obtain therapy for LGBTQ youth to "help them solve their problems.

[140] On Monday, February 26, 2024, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban the display of pride flags in public school classrooms.

[143] Nashville public radio reported that Speaker McNally found the language of the bill Constitutionally questionable and stated that he had asked for guidance from AG Skrmetti.

[157] Skrmetti has also offered his legal opinion that Judge Parker's ruling is only valid for Shelby County and that the law remains in effect for the rest of the state.

[165][166] The suit also alleges that city officials have engaged in a year-long concerted effort of harassment to prevent members of the Tennessee Equality Project from exercising their First Amendment rights.

[167][168] The case is being heard by U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, who issued an order on October 20, 2023 stating that the city "shall not" enforce code that included the term "homosexuality" in a definition of "sexual conduct".

[178] Often police and legal officials are sympathetic towards the anti-LGBT aggressors and turn a blind eye to attacks[179] often calling homosexual attractions a sin.