by Vanguard Staff
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee House has passed legislation that would require the collection and public reporting of detailed medical data related to transgender patients, drawing sharp criticism from advocates who warn the measure threatens longstanding protections for medical privacy.
In a statement, Samantha Boucher, founder of Trans Liberty PAC, condemned House Bill 754 following its approval in a 70–21 vote, describing the legislation as an unprecedented intrusion into personal health records.
“Yesterday the Tennessee House voted 70 to 21 to build a public registry of transgender people’s medical records,” Boucher said. “Rep. Jason Zachary cut off debate after only two other representatives were able to speak in opposition. Rep. Jeremy Faison claimed the data would be anonymous.”
The bill would require gender clinics across Tennessee to submit patient data to the state Department of Health, which would then compile and publish an annual report containing a wide range of information, including patient age, sex, county of residence, medications, surgical procedures, provider details and mental health diagnoses, though not names or direct identifiers.
Supporters of the legislation, including its sponsor Rep. Jeremy Faison, have argued the measure is intended in part to support individuals seeking detransition care and to ensure insurance coverage for those procedures.
Boucher, however, rejected claims that the data would be sufficiently anonymized and argued that the level of detail included would make individuals identifiable, particularly in smaller communities.
“This is a lie,” Boucher said. “The bill collects the patients’ county of residence, specific medications and dosages, surgical codes, provider names and visit dates, and unrelated mental health diagnoses, and publishes them in an annual public report for everyone to see.”
“This will not be restricted to only medical records related to transition-specific healthcare, but everything in those categories. In rural Tennessee, like my own hometown, that might as well be a name and address. Everyone in that chamber knew it. They passed it anyway,” she added.
The legislation also includes enforcement provisions that could penalize medical providers who do not comply with reporting requirements. Under the bill, physicians who refuse to submit patient data could face license suspension for at least six months, and clinics could be fined up to $150,000.
Boucher said those provisions place physicians in an untenable position between their professional obligations and state mandates.
“The bill also forces doctors to choose between their oath and their license,” Boucher said. “Physicians who refuse to hand over patient records face suspension for at least six months and $150,000 fines.”
Advocates have also raised concerns that the publication of detailed health data could expose both patients and providers to harassment or targeting, particularly in areas with fewer healthcare providers.
Boucher framed the legislation as a broader threat to the principle of medical confidentiality.
“Every American is raised on the promise that we have a right to privacy – that what we discuss with our doctors, lawyers, or preachers is always confidential,” Boucher said. “That is not simply a courtesy, it is a sacred covenant – written into federal laws, protected by oath, and is older than any of the State Representatives who voted to gut it yesterday.”
During legislative debate, lawmakers rejected an amendment proposed by Rep. Justin Jones that would have prevented the public release of patient data, a move that critics say underscores the scope of the bill’s impact.
“Rep. Justin Jones proposed an amendment to keep this private data out of the public report. House Republicans voted it down,” Boucher said. “Jones asked what stops the state from doing this to people who get abortions, people on antidepressants, people who decline vaccines. Nobody answered him.”
Jones raised similar concerns on the House floor, questioning whether the measure could establish a precedent for broader disclosures of personal medical information.
Boucher argued that the bill’s implications extend beyond transgender patients and could erode privacy protections more broadly.
“This is because there is no limiting principle, and they know it,” she said. “If Tennessee can void the medical privacy of trans people today, the only thing protecting anyone else’s records tomorrow is the good faith of this same legislature.”
The vote followed contentious debate and public protest at the state Capitol, where demonstrators gathered to oppose the legislation and raise concerns about privacy and civil rights. At least one protester was removed from the House gallery by state troopers after refusing to leave.
Boucher referenced those events in her statement, criticizing both the legislative process and the atmosphere surrounding the vote.
“State troopers carried a woman down the Capitol stairs for refusing to leave the gallery,” she said. “Two of Faison’s own Republicans voted ‘present’ because they could not bring themselves to vote yes. Zachary cut off debate because he did not want our fellow Tennesseans to hear what they were doing described out loud.”
Reflecting on her own ties to the state, Boucher added a personal dimension to her critique.
“I grew up in the Sequatchie Valley. I know what Tennessee is at its most beautiful – and I know what it can be at its worst,” she said. “But what these seventy legislators did yesterday doesn’t even represent the communities I grew up with, people who believe — deeply, in their bones — that a government that reaches into your private life or puts your neighbors at risk is a tyrannical one.”
The bill now moves to the Tennessee Senate, where it will face further consideration in the coming weeks.
“They will come for other records next. Other health conditions. Other people,” Boucher said. “The machine Faison built does not care who it is pointed at, and the precedent is among the most dangerous the Tennessee Legislature has ever passed.”
She concluded with a call for lawmakers to halt the legislation before it advances further.
“The Tennessee Senate can still stop this. They should do it while it is still only us – because it will not be only us for long.”
Follow the Vanguard on Social Media – X, Instagram and Facebook. Subscribe the Vanguard News letters. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org/donate or give directly through ActBlue. Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.
The goal is to erase transgender people from public life. All of this legislation needs to be understood in that context.
That’s it. That’s all this is about, eradicating transgender people.
From people who probably have never even condescended to get to know a transgender person on an individual level as a human being.