Tim Dunn  

Republican Tim Dunn is a member of the Arizona State Senate, representing District 25. He assumed office on January 13, 2025. His current term ends on January 11, 2027. Dunn ran for re-election to the Arizona House of Representatives to represent District 25. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022. He was appointed to the chamber in February 2018 to replace Don Shooter (R), who was expelled over sexual misconduct allegations. Dunn has suggested (in Congress) a pipeline transferring water from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River. Dunn ran for election to the Arizona State Senate to represent District 25. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024. Dunn has declared for reelection to the Arizona State Senate representing District 25 in 2026.
 

-- SUMMATION --
 
Arizona State Senator (and former Representative) Tim Dunn has voted for, spoken in favor of, and supported several pieces of legislation classified by civil rights groups and LGBTQIA+ advocacy organizations as harmful. Supporters of these measures frame them as efforts to protect public morality, parental rights, and biological females, while critics state that they restrict the rights, expression, and safety of LGBTQ+ individuals.
 
The specific legislative actions, public floor statements, and votes associated with Dunn include:
 
Oral and Public Support for Anti-Drag Legislation
 
Dunn has been a vocal proponent of legislative crackdowns on drag performances. During a 2023 legislative session pushing forward restrictive bills (SB 1028 and SB 1030), Dunn explicitly defended the legislation on the state floor by stating, "We need to turn the moral compass of this country back in the right direction".  (ref)
 
  • SB 1028 sought to ban drag shows on public property or anywhere minors could see them.  (ref)
  • SB 1030 aimed to reclassify businesses hosting drag performances as adult-oriented businesses, severely restricting their locations and operations
Support for Restrictions on Transgender Youth
 
Dunn has voted for and publicly defended bills restricting transgender students in public schools:
 
  • Locker Room and Shower Lawsuits (SB 1182 / HB 2612): Dunn supported and spoke heavily in favor of a bill allowing parents to sue public schools if they allow transgender students to use locker rooms or shower facilities that align with their gender identity. Dunn publicly defended the policy by explicitly citing concerns about cisgender student athletes sharing spaces with older transgender students.  (ref)
  • Pronoun Bans (SB 1001): Dunn voted in favor of the measure prohibiting public school employees from using a student's preferred pronouns and name unless they received written permission from a parent.  (ref)
Broader Voting Record on LGBTQ+ Issues
 
As a reliably conservative legislator, Dunn's broader voting record aligns with the party-line pushes targeting LGBTQ+ representation and healthcare:  (ref)
 
  • Gender-Affirming Healthcare Restrictions: Dunn voted "yes" on state measures targeting medical providers and limiting access to gender-affirming surgeries or puberty blockers for minors. (ref 1)  (ref 2)
  • School Curriculum and Book Restrictions: He supported parental "opt-in" bills requiring explicit parental sign-offs before public school teachers could discuss sexual orientation or gender identity in the classroom. He also supported measures easing the process for parents to challenge and remove school library books featuring LGBTQ+ couples or themes.  (ref)
Restricting Transgender Athletes (The "Save Women's Sports" Act)
 
  • SB 1165 Support: Dunn voted "yes" on SB 1165, which became law in 2022. The legislation bans transgender girls and women from competing on public school and university sports teams that align with their gender identity. Supporters argued this protected fair competition in biological women's sports, while civil rights organizations strongly criticized it for alienating and excluding transgender youth from peer activities.
Restricting Access to Affirming Identification
 
  • Opposition to Nonbinary Gender Markers: Dunn consistently voted along party lines against any legislative attempts to add a nonbinary "X" gender marker option on Arizona state driver's licenses and birth certificates. LGBTQIA+ advocates state that denying accurate state identification increases the risk of harassment, discrimination, and misgendering for nonbinary and transgender Arizonans.
Blocking Statewide Non-Discrimination Protections
 
  • Consistent Opposition to the Equal Rights Additions: Dunn has voted against multi-year efforts to pass a statewide non-discrimination law that would include "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" as protected classes in housing, employment, and public accommodations. Currently, Arizona lacks explicit, uniform statewide protections for LGBTQ+ citizens, leaving coverage reliant on patchy local city ordinances.
Broad Definition Pushes
 
  • SB 1628 Support (Defining "Sex"): Dunn supported systemic pushes to change statutory language across Arizona laws. This includes efforts to replace the word "gender" with "sex" and strictly define it under state policy solely as male or female based on an individual's reproductive systems at birth. Human rights groups argue that such sweeping legal redefinitions effectively write transgender and intersex individuals completely out of legal recognition.  (ref 1)  (ref 2)  (ref 3)

- - - - -

 
Tim Dunn's political tenure is connected to a few notable systemic controversies, policy debates, and adjacent scandals:
 
1. Entrance via the Don Shooter Sex Harassment Scandal
 
Dunn did not enter the legislature via a normal election cycle; his very entry was birthed out of one of the largest scandals in Arizona legislative history. In February 2018, Representative Don Shooter became the first state lawmaker in the United States to be expelled during the height of the #MeToo movement following an independent investigation that proved a severe pattern of sexual harassment. The Yuma County Board of Supervisors appointed Dunn to fill Shooter’s vacant seat. While Dunn himself was entirely blameless, his entry tied him directly to the subsequent political restructuring and clean-up efforts in the House.  (ref 1)  (ref 2)  (ref 3)  (ref 4)
 
2. The Mississippi River Water Pipeline Proposal
 
From a policy perspective, Dunn drew national media attention and environmental pushback for proposing an incredibly ambitious and highly scrutinized infrastructure project. To address Arizona’s historic multi-decade drought, Dunn proposed creating a massive cross-country pipeline that would pump water from the Mississippi River all the way to the Colorado River to feed Arizona's agricultural needs. Critics, hydrologists, and environmental groups heavily panned the idea as an ecologically disastrous, financially impossible, and politically unrealistic "pipedream" that ignored the core structural realities of climate-induced water scarcity.  (ref 1)  (ref 2)
 
3. Partisan "Culture War" Defenses
 
While Dunn frequently postures as a pragmatist willing to hunt for common ground across the aisle on agricultural issues, he has occasionally been at the center of heated legislative floor fights:
 
  • The "Moral Compass" Flashpoint: During the April 2023 passage of bills criminalizing and heavily restricting drag show performances, Dunn drew sharp rebukes from civil rights groups when he defended the government crackdown on free expression by stating on the House floor: "We need to turn the moral compass of this country back in the right direction."  (ref)
  • Locker Room Litigation Support: Dunn faced public pushback from education advocates for aggressively supporting legislation that allowed parents to sue school districts for monetary damages if their cisgender children shared locker rooms or restrooms with transgender students.  (ref 1)
Every name in RED, as of this date, has now voted 3 times in two weeks to keep the 1864 Abortion Ban on the books and the law of Arizona.
Apr. 18, 2024
Democracy Watchdog Identifies 31 'Election Deniers' At AZ Legislature
"A recent report says Arizona stands out nationwide with the amount of so-called “election deniers” at the state legislature. The nonprofit States United Democracy Center released the study, analyzing the seven states that were focal points in the effort to overturn the 2020 election. In Arizona, 31 sitting legislators – who supported former President Trump and election conspiracies – meet the nonprofit’s criteria of election deniers. They account for 34% of the state legislature, the highest percentage of any state."
Apr. 11, 2024
-- THE LIST --
AZ Republicans Push Anti-Drag, Anti-LGBTQ Bills Closer To Veto Stamp
"Undeterred by the threat of vetoes, Arizona Republicans advanced a trio of anti-LGBTQ bills on Monday, defending them as a protection against immorality. “We need to turn the moral compass of this country back in the right direction,” said Rep. Tim Dunn, R-Yuma, shortly before the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives gave preliminary approval to two bills that originally criminalized drag shows."
Apr. 11, 2023
Local Representative Tim Runn Says He'd Look To Further Restrict Abortion If Roe v. Wade Is Overturned
"Dunn says if the court does overturn Roe v. Wade, he would agree with limiting abortions even further, potentially to a heartbeat bill limiting abortions to about six weeks."
May 5, 2022

In other words, as PROVEN by this bill, Republicans and ammosexuals find it wrong to discriminate against inanimate objects but have no problem discriminating against people.
 
 

The Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) is the most rabid gay-hate, anti LGBTQ organization in Arizona and Mr. Dunn is proud to be associated and endorsed by them. Homophobes stand together. Source: Twitter.
 
  

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