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Monthly Support of Tennessee Equality Project. Make sure you really want to donate MONTHLY before proceeding with this link.
As a monthly supporter of Tennessee Equality Project, your contribution funds the advancement of policies through direct and grass roots lobbying which protect the rights of LGBT people and their families here at home in Tennessee. Contributions to TEP (a 501(c)(4) organization) are not tax deductible.
If you prefer to make a ONE-TIME donation to Tennessee Equality Project, click here.
If you would prefer to make a tax-deductible contribution to Tennessee Equality Project Foundation, click here.
Other Giving Options
Some supporters prefer to write a check or make monthly donations to Tennessee Equality Project through automatic bank drafts. Consider creating “Tennessee Equality Project” as a regular payee with your bank’s online service.
Checks and automated bank drafts may be mailed to the following address:
Tennessee Equality Project | P.O. Box 330875 | Nashville, TN 37203
Thank you for supporting Tennessee Equality Project.
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YOUR Districts
Tell us your state senate and state house districts. Note: We are NOT asking for your U.S. Senate and U.S. House districts (the elected officials who meeting in Washington, D.C. ). We are asking about your elected officials you meet in Nashville--your state senator and your state representative. You can find them at this link by entering your street address.
So tell us your state senator and your state representative as well as your email address. Thank you!
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Kt Hiestand posted about LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans on Facebook 2016-12-22 07:35:47 -0600Sign the petition: LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans
LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans
An open letter from Tennessee's LGBTQ community to our fellow Tennesseans
As members of the LGBTQ community, we write to our fellow Tennesseans a month after the election and a month before the upcoming state legislative session.
In recent weeks members of our community have experienced grave assaults on our safety and dignity. A gay, gender nonconforming man was murdered. A transgender woman’s car was burned. The signs and doors of a church that affirms our community have been vandalized. A gay couple received a package with a knife sticking out and a message attached urging them to leave the state.
These attacks upon individuals and institutions have put our lives and safety at even greater risk than usual. They contravene the welcoming traditions of hospitality for which Tennessee is known.
The time we have entered is critical. Many are calling for healing in the wake of a divisive election. Healing is difficult while fresh wounds are being inflicted such as discriminatory state legislation.
So we are speaking out for our safety, dignity, and equal rights under the law.
Our struggle is not against your values, unless you value discrimination. LGBTQ Tennesseans are your neighbors, your family members, your health care providers, firefighters, grocery clerks, teachers, elected officials, and we fill many other roles vital to the life of small towns and large cities. Many of us grew up and continue to be active in the same faith communities as you.
In the long story of our community’s struggles, we have relied on our own strength to sustain us. We have also experienced the joy of working with countless allies. Now is a time for allies to speak out with us and we invite people of good will throughout the state to build a stronger, inclusive, welcoming Tennessee to meet our state’s common challenges together.
If you share these values and priorities, we invite you to add your name to this letter.
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No Discrimination in Federal Contracts!
In late April the U.S. House Armed Services Committee voted to undo President Obama's non-discrimination executive orders for federal contracts via the Russell amendment. This amendment is part of the National Defense Authorization Act.
Removal of the President's executive orders on non-discrimination would be a disaster for LGBT people in states like Tennessee that lack employment protections covering sexual orientation and gender identity.
Please, sign this petition to Tennessee's two U.S. Senators and nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives and we will make sure copies are sent to their offices.
Dear Senators Alexander and Corker and Representatives Roe, Duncan, Fleischmann, Desjarlais, Cooper, Black, Blackburn, Fincher, and Cohen:
We oppose the Russell amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act and similar efforts to reverse President Obama's executive orders on employment non-discrimination for federal contractors. Protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is important to Tennesseans. Thank you for considering our views.
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Kt Hiestand signed No special legislative session for bathroom discrimination! 2016-05-18 10:59:02 -0500
No special legislative session for bathroom discrimination!
On the evening of May 17, The Tennessean and The Commercial Appeal reported that legislators are considering a special legislative session to take up a new effort to pass a statewide anti-transgender bathroom discrimination law. Sign YOUR name to the statement below and we'll deliver your signatures to legislative leaders:
Dear Speaker Ramsey and Speaker Harwell:
We oppose a special legislative session to consider an anti-transgender bathroom discrimination law. It is never justified to spend the state's time and money to advance discrimination. Thank you for considering our views.
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Counseling Unconditionally
The map shown above represents mental health providers in Tennessee who provide affirmative services, especially in regards to sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. Please click on the top right of the map to make it larger so you can search your address/location to find counselors close to you and more information about them (e.g., website, e-mail address, insurance options, etc.).
The "Counseling Discrimination Law" (formerly HB1840) passed in 2016 highlights the need for counselors, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and other mental health providers to speak out for inclusive and affirmative practices. We urge any mental health provider to endorse the statement at the bottom of the page.
As counselors, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers serving clients in Tennessee, we affirm that we do not discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity and we will not use our own sincerely held principles as a reason to turn clients away.
Note: The Tennessee Equality Project and the Tennessee Equality Project Foundation reserve the right to refuse membership to any provider or revoke a provider's listing.
If you have questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out to [email protected].
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Kt Hiestand signed VETO Hate Bill 1840, the Counseling Discrimination bill 2016-04-06 11:36:00 -0500As a licensed psychologist and a Christian, I see this bill as a deplorable abuse of religious entitlement. My duty is to my clients, and my religious/personal beliefs are not relevant to my work as a therapist. They determine how I conduct my personal life, but should not ever influence how I expect my clients to live their lives. As an ethical psychologist and as a Christian, I denounce this bill as dangerous and discriminatory.
VETO Hate Bill 1840, the Counseling Discrimination bill
Please, add your voice and urge Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam to veto this discriminatory bill.
Dear Governor Haslam,
We urge you to veto HB1840, which allows counselors to turn away clients based on the counselor's biases and values. This bill puts the focus on the desires of counselors rather than on the needs of clients, damaging the counseling profession and putting clients at risk.
An anti-bullying amendment was stripped from the bill in the House Health Committee leaving youth vulnerable in areas where mental health services are not widely available.
Thank you for considering our views.
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Kt Hiestand signed Governor Haslam, Fight for trans students and against SB2387/HB2414 2016-03-21 08:50:10 -0500
Governor Haslam, Fight for trans students and against SB2387/HB2414
Please, join us in encouraging Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam to fight against this attack on transgender students.
Dear Governor Haslam,
We call on you to do everything in your power to lobby against passage of SB2387/HB2414, the anti-transgender student bathroom bill. We also ask that you VETO the bill if it reaches your desk.
The bill endangers vulnerable students and it risks significant U.S. Department of Education funds to Tennessee. If this bill became law, the enforcement would be a nightmare for school districts across the state.
Show the world that Tennessee is a welcoming state. Thank you for considering our views.
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The People's Resolution Opposing Tennessee House Joint Resolution 529 on Marriage Equality
Sign on as a co-sponsor of the People's Resolution Opposing Tennessee House Joint Resolution 529 on Marriage Equality.
WHEREAS, Rep. Susan Lynn has introduced a resolution urging the members of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee to express their disagreement with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges; and
WHEREAS, the Tennessee Constitution affirms "That the citizens have a right, in a peaceable manner, to assemble together, for their common good, to instruct their representatives, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government for redress of grievances or other proper purposes, by address or remonstrance;" and
WHEREAS, the State of Tennessee ought to be focused on the legal equality of all its people rather than attacking the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community; and
WHEREAS, "the equal protection of the laws" is a cherished principle in American jurisprudence; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, that we oppose House Joint Resolution 529 and urge the members of the 109th General Assembly of the State of Tennessee to uphold the entire Constitution of the United States, including the Fourteenth Amendment, and cease their legislative attacks on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
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