Tennessee has become the first state in the South with a hate crime statute protecting the transgender community.

State Attorney General Herbert Slatery (below) issued a statement regarding the state's law in February 8, in response to a question posed by Rep. Mike Stewart, The Tennessean reports.

Stewart make the inquiry following the defeat of a bill that intended to add gender identity and expression to Tennessee's hate crime sentencing law, which protects against targeting based on race, religion, color, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry or gender.

"A defendant who targets a person for a crime because that person is transgender has targeted the person because of his or her gender within the meaning" of the current state law outlining sentence enhancements for hate crimes, Slatery wrote.

"Let's see how the courts actually utilize the law in practice and let's see how much protection it provides," Stewart said in regards to Slatery's reply, seeming to hold out for the possibility that specific language covering gender identity in the hate crimes sentencing law could still be needed.

"What we as a community were all telling ourselves was nothing could be done in Tennessee as far as a penalty enhancement, if the perpetrator were even caught," Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project, said of the presumed situation surrounding trans victims prior to the attorney general's ruling. He said he was pleased with the decision, and hopes it is implemented in future cases.

Some hate crimes in the state can also be prosecuted as a felony under the Civil Rights Intimidation Act.