Saturday, March 26, 2011

Tennessee to remove "idiot," "lunatic" and "retarded" from state laws

From The AP:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A new bill will remove terms like "idiot," "lunatic" and "retarded" from state laws, replacing them with updated language.

The bill sent by the House on March 24 to Gov. Bill Haslam replaces "idiot," lunatic" and "person of unsound mind" with "person adjudicated incompetent."

"Disabled" and "handicapped" are replaced with "people with a disability." And "retardation" becomes "intellectual disability."

Senate sponsor Douglas Henry, of Nashville, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities asked for the changes.

One section wasn't changed, though. There will still be a law that forbids issuing marriage licenses to an applicant who appears to be "drunk, insane or an imbecile."