1.  What's the purpose of the ordinance?

The proposed county ordinance promotes fair treatment for all citizens employed by county government, county government contractors and private employers in unincorporated areas of Shelby County regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. County services and facilities shall also be available without discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

2.  Why does Shelby County need to add sexual orientation and gender identity to current county codes on discrimination?

Amending current county codes will protect people where the State of Tennessee and federal laws fall short. The Shelby County Code of Ordinances should establish fair practices in employment and government services that protect ALL citizens from discrimination based on religion, race, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, creed, political affiliation or other non-merit factors.

Research by the Williams Institute demonstrates that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is a common occurrence in many workplaces across the country.

3.  What is sexual orientation and gender identity or expression?

According to the proposed ordinance, Sexual Orientation means a person's real or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality.

The ordinance also defines Gender Identity or Expression to mean a person's gender-related self-identity, appearance, expression or behavior, regardless of the person's assigned gender at birth.

4. How many counties and municipalities currently have ordinances like the one proposed by Commissioner Steve Mulroy?

By enacting the proposed non-discrimination provisions in the County Code of Ordinances, Shelby County would join nearly 200 municipalities and 20 states that currently protect their citizens from harmful discrimination. More and more cities, counties and states are passing comprehensive nondiscrimination laws to protect their citizens' human rights. Many Southern cities, including Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin and Dallas, as well as peer cities, such as Louisville and Indianapolis, already offer protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. 

For more details, see the following:

• Jurisdictions with Explicitly Trans-Inclusive Discrimination Laws
• Years Passed between Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity or Expression

5. Will passing such an ordinance have a positive effect on the economy in Shelby County? 

Yes! Employers will be able to attract (and retain) talented professionals to Memphis and Shelby County. A report commissioned by Shelby County Government, the City of Memphis and the Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce in 2002 describes ways to predict which cities will perform as "talent magnets" in what Prof. Richard Florida calls high capital individuals. Successful economies need to focus on technology, talent and tolerance.

Richard Florida is an American urban studies theorist who focuses on sociology and economics. Currently a professor and head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management, at the University of Toronto, he also heads a private consulting firm called the Creative Class Group.

Florida is best known for his research on his concept of the creative class, and its ramifications in urban regeneration. This research was expressed in Florida's bestselling books The Rise of the Creative Class, Cities and the Creative Class, and The Flight of the Creative Class.

6. What does technology, talent and tolerance have to do with the ordinance?

From Technology, Talent, and Tolerance: Attracting the Best and Brightest to Memphis:

Talented technology workers want to live in places with a "thick" labor market, i.e. one with many attractive employment options. Thick labor markets develop in places where talented individuals feel immediately comfortable, find other creative people in many fields, and have the opportunity to make an immediate contribution - places that welcome and value people of every kind.

In short, tolerance attracts talent; talent attracts technology-driven growth.

Prof. [Richard] Florida conducted an analysis comparing measures of tolerance, diversity, and high-technology success in 50 metropolitan areas. Interestingly enough, he found that the leading indicators of a metropolitan area's high-technology success are a large gay population and a high concentration of artists and foreign-born residents. Prof. Florida has melded these three factors - the presence of gay men and women, artists, and foreign-born individuals - into a measure of overall openness he calls the "Diversity Index." Cities that score high on the Diversity Index attract talent.

As Prof. Florida and Gary Gates of the Urban Institute wrote in The Brookings Institution Survey Series (Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, "Technology and Tolerance." 6.01). "Tolerance and diversity clearly matter to high-tech concentration and growth. Having large representations of gays or bohemians or immigrants in a population does not, of course, directly cause a technology industry to spring up. Instead, people in technology businesses appear to be drawn to places characterized by inclusiveness, openmindedness, and cultural creativity - attributes whose presence is often signaled by, and therefore strongly correlates with, a cosmopolitan and diverse local population. The point isn't that high-tech jobs follow gays; it's that gays and high-tech jobs both gravitate to the same kinds of places."

The above report included specific recommendations for our community for promoting tolerance.  Shelby County Government, the City of Memphis and the Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce should:

Visibly and officially embrace diversity as an economic and civic development goal that is as good for the whole community as it is for those who are labeled as "minority."
 

• Expand the definition of diversity as an economic and civic "good" to include all people with talent, whatever their dress, religion, musical tastes, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or country of origin.
• Use images of diverse Memphians and their lifestyles in branding and image strategies.
• Support the International Freedom Awards as an event with global recognition and stature, and use it as a means of branding Memphis internationally.
• Develop and support visible celebrations of diversity.

Shelby County can officially embrace diversity by passing a non-discrimination ordinance that expands fair treatment for all people regardless of their dress, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and national origin. Implementing the recommendations of the Technology, Talent and Tolerance report by Shelby County Government and the City of Memphis is long overdue.

Hear more about this phenomenon directly from Richard Florida.  Read more about the relationship between promoting diversity and economic growth here, here, here and here.

7. But isn't Memphis and Shelby County already a tolerant place for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people?

In 2008, Memphis and Shelby County gained a national reputation for violent crimes committed against GLBT people (particularly African American transgender people).  Shelby County was "ground zero" for many of the most publicized hate crimes perpetrated against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens in Tennessee. Most prominent among these crimes was the transphobic police beating of Duanna Johnson at the Shelby County Justice Center. A video of the incident exposed a violent bias against GLBT minorities in Memphis and Shelby County. Before the beating began, police officers called Duanna a "faggot" and a "he/she."  Shelby County Justice Center staff did nothing to intervene as Duanna endured blow after blow.

More attacks of transgender women of color followed later in the year.  Ebony Whitaker was murdered near the Memphis airport over the summer. While Duanna Johnson's civil rights case against police was still pending, she was shot in the street in November. Leeneshia Edwards was shot before Christmas Eve but survived her injuries.

According to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation statistics from 2001 to 2007, the total number of hate crimes committed against Tennessee citizens based on sexual orientation has nearly tripled since 2005. African Americans are disproportionately affected by hate crimes based on sexual orientation in Tennessee compared to other demographic groups.

These violent hate crimes serve as a "wake up" call for reform in our community.  Hate crime trends indicate that GLBT people are unjustly targeted for violence.  The same homophobia and transphobia that motivate these crimes exist in the workplace too. These fears lead employers to act unfairly in reviewing employment applications, hiring, promoting, disciplining, and terminating employees for non-merit reasons.

It's time to reclaim Memphis and Shelby County as a community that welcomes diversity, values safety and security, and promotes fairness and equality for ALL people. The Non-Discrimination Ordinance is the first step toward setting morally acceptable community standards for fairness and equality.

8. How many employers doing business in Shelby County currently include sexual orientation and/or gender identity or expression in their equal opportunity employment policies?

Hundreds! As of February 2009, 423 (85%) of the Fortune 500 companies had implemented non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation, and 176 (more than one-third) had policies that include gender identity or expression. The HRC's Corporate Equality Index has a complete listing.

Click here for a partial list of employers in Shelby County that currently include sexual orientation and/or gender identity or expression in their equal opportunity employment policies.

9. Who is supporting the Shelby County Non-Discrimination Ordinance?

Click here for a complete list.

10.  How can I express my support for the Shelby County Non-Discrimination Ordinance?

Determine who represents you on the Shelby County Board of Commissioners at the website for Shelby County Government. You can advocate for the ordinance by doing the following:

• Write a letter or e-mail to the Commissioners to ask them to vote for the Non-Discrimination Ordinance. Handwritten letters addressed to the Commissioners at 160 North Main St, Memphis, TN 38103 are best. Click here for guidelines on how to write a good letter.
• Call your Commissioners at 901-545-4301 to tell them you support the ordinance.
• Attend Shelby County Commission meetings at 160 North Main Street in Memphis when the ordinance will be read. This is very important. The outcome of legislation is often determined by how many citizens appear at commission meetings. The ordinance will be read a total of 6 times (3 times by the General Government Committee and 3 times by the full Commission):
• The Commission's General Government Committee will review the ordinance on May 27, June 3 and June 17 some time between 10 a.m. and 12 Noon.
• The full Commission will review the ordinance at 1:30 p.m. on the following Mondays: June 1, June 15, and June 29. The Commission will vote on the ordinance on June 29.
• Make a donation to the Tennessee Equality Project to help advance equality in Memphis and Shelby County.
• Encourage your friends, family, co-workers and church members to do any and all of the above!