A post shared on X claims that the state of Tennessee has banned pride flags in schools.

🚨BREAKING:

Tennessee passes law to ban Pride Flags from classrooms.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? pic.twitter.com/wv6F3IEHoY

— Ivanka Trump 🇺🇲 🦅 News (@IvankaNews_) September 25, 2024

Verdict: False

Legislation to ban all flags that do not represent the country and other state and local entities, such as pride flags, was “recommended for passage” but did not become law. Ultimately, Tennessee did not ban pride flags. 

Fact Check:

A September 25 X post, viewed more than 4 million times, claimed that the Volunteer State had “passed [a] law to ban pride flags from classrooms. The same graphic and message was shared in other posts that reiterated the same misleading claim.

However, this claim is false as the legislation failed to be law months ago. In November 2023, Republican Tennessee State Rep. Gino Bulso introduced a bill intended to ban flags representing political ideologies, as reported in December by the local news outlet Nashville Scene. A companion bill was proposed in the state Senate the following January, by Republican Tennessee State Sen. Joey Hensley.

HB 1605 and SB 1722 were designed to “prohibit” all schools in the state from displaying flags that do not represent the country, state, local government, universities, other nations or are not otherwise protected under law. Notably, rainbow pride flags—which have been increasingly restricted in classrooms across the country over the past year—would not be permitted to be displayed under the law.

The Associated Press reported in February that the proposal passed in a House floor vote, 70-24, on its third round of consideration. On April 23, the same bill failed in the Senate. 13 lawmakers voted in favor of the proposal and 6 against, with 3 abstaining from the vote.

SB 1722 passed its first and second considerations in the Senate and was later “recommended for passage,” according to legislative records. However, it was “substituted” for HB 1605 in April and subsequently failed to receive legislative approval to become law. Both chambers of the Tennessee legislature are controlled by Republicans. (RELATED: FACT CHECK: No Evidence That Image Shows Instagram Bio Of Man Who Attempted Trump Assassination)

The claim about the failed bill in Tennessee follows other false claims about similar bans in Texas. Earlier this week, Check Your Fact showed in a separate fact-check that such reports of pride flags in classrooms being considered a “crime” came from a satirical news report. There is no evidence that the Lone Star State has banned pride flags in schools.