Tennessee's 'Milo Bill' Gets New Name, Kind Of

NASHVILLE, TN — The emergence of a tape in which he seemingly condones sex between boys as young as 13 and grown men and jokes about the Roman Catholic priest sexual molestation scandals cost lightning rod Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos a plum speaking spot at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a book deal with Simon & Schuster and, now, the honor of having a Tennessee law named for him.

State Rep. Martin Daniel, Republican of Knoxville, tweeted that the bill he once proudly called the "Milo Bill" will now be known — at least informally — by a host of other, far less incendiary names. For updates on the General Assembly and other local news that affects you, find and subscribe to your local Middle Tennessee Patch.

Officially, HB739 is the "Tennessee Student Free Expression Act," but when Daniel held a press conference to roll out the bill last week, he repeatedly referenced protests that broke out at the University of California's main campus in Berkeley during Yiannopoulos' appearance there and repeatedly referred to his proposal as "the Milo Bill."

But a the firestorm erupted over the weekend with the leaking of the tape by The Reagan Battalion, a conservative group, in which Yiannopoulos says the concept of consent is "arbitrary and oppressive" and indicates that sex between children as young as 13 and older men is analogous to sex between adults. Yiannopoulos offered a tepid apology on Facebook, blaming editing and a general American misunderstanding of dry British wit for the controversy. Yiannopoulos' appearance at CPAC and his book deal were both axed.

Daniel, without referencing Yiannopoulos by name, tweeted he was changing the name of the bill.

About 15 hours later, he did conditionally condemn Yiannopoulos.

He then tweeted an indication that, perhaps, the bill's name would be changed altogether.

Daniel seemingly tweeted these clarifications after a text-message conversation with a Nashville Scene reporter during which the lawmaker claimed he wasn't totally up-to-speed on the latest Yiannopoulos controversy and refused to completely disavow him.

No amendment has been filed to change the official name of the bill from the "Tennessee Student Free Expression Act."

What's less talked about than the name of the bill is what it actually would do if passed. While it does indeed a number of protections of free expression on campus, it also bans public protests on campus that are disruptive or that block traffic or entrances to buildings and offices, but defines disruptions relatively broadly, which could, theoretically, ban any campus protest. Further, as University of Tennessee professors and spokespeople told the Nashville Scene, every higher-education institution in the state already has a free speech policy in place. The ACLU of Tennessee told the Scene it was keeping an eye on the bill because some of its protections extend outside the "public fora" protected by the First Amendment.

Image via Flickr user LeWeb14, used under Creative Commons