A Tennessee bill to allow the death penalty for child rapists has been criticized by LGBTQ+ activists.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee approved the legislation in May without issuing a statement which is set to go into effect on July 1, 2024. It follows a similar move by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last year.
Under the new Tennessee law, state prosecutors can pursue the death penalty when an adult is convicted of aggravated rape against a child. Other punishments include life imprisonment without parole, or imprisonment for life.
After signing the bill, Gov. Lee told reporters that such crimes are “some of the most heinous that there are”.
Following the wider publication of the bill’s existence, some LGBTQ+ activists amazingly took to social media platform X to vent their dismay.
One social media user who claimed the law was “cool in theory but bad in practice” due to the unevidenced targeting of racial minorities and gay people later locked their account after coming under heavy fire from those astounded at their comments.
Nevertheless, “@stinkypissbitch” was not alone in their bizarre take.
Fortunately, most users saw sense in the legislation, noting that it would indeed affect LGBTQ+ people who committed heinous crimes as much as it would heterosexuals.
…while another presented a graph highlighting the statistics of why some demographics may be more impacted than others.
What’s your view? Should all states follow suit, or has Tennessee Gov. Lee been too extreme in passing the bill? Let us know in the comments below.
