Anti-marriage equality resolutions are popping up in county commissions around the state.  Here's a map where the battles have been fought.  The latest hot spot is Knox County where there may be an effort to introduce and pass such a resolution on Monday, December 21. 

Why do they matter and why should we fight them?

1. They are part of an effort to pass the Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act.  This state bill seeks to nullify the Supreme Court's marriage ruling.  If counties pass resolutions in support of the bill, that encourages legislators from those counties to support the measure.  Defeating these resolutions helps undercut a talking point for the bill.

2. The resolutions are harmful to the LGBT community in those counties.  Even though the resolutions have no legal force and even if the Legislature passes its bill, it can only temporarily interrupt marriage equality, which is bad in itself.  BUT...it sends a terrible message to LGBT youth and adults if their county legislative body denounces their rights.  That is the kind of action that keeps people in the closet and contributes to higher suicide rates in our community.  It makes it harder to pass positive protections for LGBT people in these counties.

3. Cost to the state and the counties.  If the Legislature passes the Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act, it will immediately be challenged in court and the State of Tennessee will LOSE!  That will result in legal fees that are paid for by the tax payers.  We're already facing legal bills of $2.3 million for the first round.  It would not surprise me if the counties that passed resolutions urging the Legislature into this futile effort were sued too.  They would certainly deserve it. 

4. The resolutions represent bad governance by county legislative bodies.  Often there is little public discussion of these measures.  The Sullivan County Commission passed their resolution without it ever appearing on a county website in advance of the meetings where it was voted on.  There was no real assessment of the legal implications or implications for economic development for the area. 

The good news is that, with enough notice, the LGBT community and allies CAN defeat these resolutions, as the experience in Blount and Franklin Counties shows.  So stay alert and be ready to show up for equality in your county if it becomes necessary.

As always, your support of our advocacy efforts is welcome.  You fuel the fight!

Tennessee Equality Project is pleased to announce the official panel of five judges for the Jan. 24, 2016 TEP Gumbo Contest at the Bridges Center in Downtown Memphis. Each year, the panel is selected to include a mix of individuals who make or influence public policy or make or report on delicious food. The 2016 Judges Panel includes:

The Tennessee Equality Project condemns the Sullivan County Commission's swift passage of a resolution opposed to marriage equality this morning.  The resolution passed with 20 yes votes, 1 no vote and 2 abstentions.

The resolution had not been filed as of Friday afternoon.  It never appeared online in any Sullivan County Government documents posted on the County's website. 

In a questionable move, the rules were suspended at today's meeting so that a vote could take place with little public input.

We are grateful that Bristol resident and former TEP Tri-Cities Committee chair Joe Rhymer could be present to speak against the resolution.

That does not change the fact that the Sullivan County Commission has done a great disservice to the public in denying a full consideration of the issues presented in the resolution.  Instead the Commission has rushed the county into encouraging our State Legislature to engage in a lawless, expensive fool's errand of defying the Supreme Court of the United States.

For more information, contact Chris Sanders at [email protected] or 615-390-5252.

One month from today the Tennessee General Assembly reconvenes at "high Noon."  What lies ahead for the state's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community?

Negative bills:  2016 could be one of the worst.  Here's what either is coming or could be coming.

*The Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act was filed in September.  It would attempt to nullify the Supreme Court's June marriage equality ruling.

*Various Turn the Gays Away/RFRA bills like those designed to "protect" clergy, businesses, and local officials from having to serve the LGBT community. 

*Anti-transgender bathroom bill.  It hasn't been filed yet, but it may be coming.  It is particularly troublesome because of the danger to which it exposes transgender and gender non-conforming youth.

*Counseling Discrimination.  The bill would allow students enrolled in counseling, psychology, and social work programs at public universities in Tennessee to turn away clients based on their religious beliefs.  The bill was sidelined earlier this year, but it could be back in 2016. 

*Defunding the University of Tennessee-Knoxville's Office of Diversity and Inclusion.  That has come up again just this week. 

*Local non-discrimination ordinances nullified.  In the unconfirmed rumors section, we would add that there is the possibility of bills being filed to nullify city or county ordinances that protect their own local government employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 

The choice we have.  Given all the negative legislation coming and given how few resources there are in Tennessee, we have to ask ourselves whether it makes any sense spending time on legislation that is great in terms of its content but has no chance of passing.  In order responsibly to deal with the attacks, we have to spend our time there. 

At the State level, TEP will be focused on beating these negative bills. 

And we've already been working on just that. 

Efforts so far:  When the Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act was introduced, we began by defining the perception of it in the media.  We asked Professor Sherry of Vanderbilt Law to offer this op-ed and we contributed our own piece to Huffington Post.  We have canvassed voters in Dickson, Manchester, Maryville, and Bristol in order to find out if there is a message that works with moderate voters in conservative districts.  It turns out there is!

And we opened and have sustained the fight against the anti-transgender bathroom bill.  The TEP Rutherford County Chair, who happens to be from Rep. Hulsey's district, was scanning news coverage when he learned about the bill and helped us get the information out to you statewide.  Hundreds of our members have called and emailed Rep. Hulsey urging him to rethink the bill, which is what he is doing right now.  We also have preemptively generated over 1100 emails to all the members of the State Senate urging them NOT to sponsor a companion bill.  We were also pleased to support the recent rally in Johnson City by bringing up the idea with local organizers, publicizing it dozens of times, and providing media support.

And that is how we'll fight for you when the Legislature convenes in January.  We're going to be smart about how we use our time.  We're going to look at every tactic at our disposal, including some we've never considered before.  But our focus is defending you and defending you well.

I hope you'll consider supporting our legislative work with a contribution of $25 or more at this link.  If you prefer to give a little every month to keep us running strong, you can sign up at this link. 

Don't forget to RSVP for TEP's 12th annual Advancing Equality Day on the Hill at this link.

Thanks for all you do!

A week after the disaster with Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance, Rep. Bud Bud Hulsey of Kingsport has announced that he is going to introduce a bill preventing transgender students from using the changing rooms and restrooms that correspond to their gender, according to WCYB.  Ironically, he asserts that the bill is about student safety.

NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.  Transgender students pose NO threat to other students because of their gender identity.  Indeed, it is their own safety that is in danger if the bill passes. 

Contact Rep. Hulsey and let him know he should not file this bill, which the Tennessee Equality Project condemns in the strongest way.

Demand that he not file the bill and that he should meet with members of the transgender community and learn about their real safety needs!

Leave a message for him at (615) 741-2886 .

Email him at [email protected] .

Your voice makes a difference.  The last time a state representative introduced a "police the potty" style bill, the outcry was so great that the Senate sponsor dropped the bill and it failed. 

It's time to get loud NOW!

One of the best projects we have worked on is canvassing middle-of-the-road voters in conservative districts on the Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act.  I think it's a project you should consider supporting with a contribution of $10 or more at the link.

We deliberately chose conservative districts and we avoided cherry-picking liberal voters because we wanted to get a real sense of whether our neighbors in Tennessee back this ridiculous bill.  So far, we are finding that more than half of the people we talk to in person are willing to sign a card to their legislator against it.  I think that's a great impact!

Canvassers have worked in Manchester, Maryville, and Dickson so far.  We are headed back to Maryville this Sunday, Bristol on November 7, back to Manchester on November 14, and back to Dickson on November 15.  If you can't contribute, please consider joining us in one of those locations.

Read what some of our canvassers have to say:

"While Canvassing in Manchester, I realized that we were in a very RED city. Most of our voters we went door to door to were non-Democratic or Republican. I was amazed by the end that more than half of those voters actually said YES they would sign our cards in support of our cause." -Caleb Banks

-"The people I talked to that took the survey and signed the postcard were thankful that there was a group that is bringing awareness to this bill." -Gwen Schablik

-"Any anxiety that existed before knocking on the doors was eliminated once we realized how supportive the community was of our mission. There were also several people who didn't know about the bill, and they were surprised and frustrated that it wasn't getting more attention.  Being able to educate them on the issue, and allow them an opportunity to voice their concern was incredibly rewarding!" -Leslie Wilson-Charles

This project has clearly been a great way to engage volunteers while also making an impact against a destructive piece of legislation.  Help continue to take the message to every part of Tennessee, to the parts of Tennessee outside our larger cities where it matters.  Support the canvassing project with a contribution of $10 or more today.

If you've kept up with Tennessee Equality Project on Facebook, you know we've been going door-to-door in conservative parts of the state talking about the Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act. 

Here's why.  We wanted to know where the people of Tennessee stand on the bill.  It's not a comprehensive poll, but it still gives us important data.  Second, it gives us the chance to find supporters who will contact their own legislators in areas where we might have few members of our own.  Third, it gives our members another political skill.

Data:  Without canvassing, we are at the mercy of polling organizations or guesswork when it comes to the question of whether Tennesseans support discriminatory bills.  We can't guarantee polls will be conducted on the issue or that they'll be accurate.  Canvassing gives us real data to develop a real sense of people's views.   I should note that we picked conservative districts and middle-of-the-road voters deliberately to get out of our progressive bubbles and echo chambers.

Finding supporters:  We hoped, but didn't know for sure, that we would find supporters of our position on the bill when we began.  It's important that legislators in conservative districts hear from their own constituents.  So we started in Manchester and Maryville this past weekend and were pleasantly surprised that most of the people we talked to are opposed to the bill.  Yes, opposed.  We definitely found people who support it, but most people we've talked to in person so far think it's a futile and expensive effort.  AND they were willing to tell their legislators just that!

Gaining skills:  Most of our canvassers so far had never gone door-to-door for politics before this weekend.  Many were nervous and I'm sure they had their doubts.  I think they found that it was easy and they were also encouraged by the response.  They will now be ready to canvass voters on other issues and for political candidates.  When our movement has more skilled canvassers, we're obviously stronger. 

Get involved:  We have two more canvassing events coming up.  Dickson is this Saturday.  Bristol is November 7.  I hope you'll join us.  Let's fight this bill and change Tennessee!

Hi, we're the Tennessee Equality Project, and we were in your neighborhood conducting a survey on the Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act.  We're opposed to it because it's discriminatory, futile, and potentially costly to our state.

We also have a variety of programs like Tennessee Open For Business for inclusive companies and SAFE (Schools Are For Everyone) Tennessee. 

If you would like to stay up to date on our projects, join our email list at this link.

If you would like to support our work, you can volunteer or donate. 

Do you still have questions? Contact us at [email protected] .

On Thursday about 60 people, most of them high school students, rallied for Spirit Day at Bicentennial Mall in Nashville.  The annual GLAAD event urges people to go purple for the day and stand against bullying and stand up for LGBT youth.  Tennessee Equality Project was honored to partner with GLSEN Middle TN to put the event together and we are grateful for generous funding for our recent youth events from the Nashville Predators Foundation.

How might the event have made an impact?

1.  I hope the youth who attended felt supported.  We know that bullying is a huge problem throughout the state and we also know that family acceptance for LGBT youth is a challenge.  Some students attended with their parents and that was gratifying.  Surrounded by friends, family, and allies, they got a chance to be themselves.

2.  It provided a counter-balance to the negativity they hear in state government.  Our Legislature unfortunately offers few affirming messages for LGBT youth.  But Metro Nashville Council Member Nancy VanReece, who is the first out lesbian to be elected to a legislative body in the state, and an FBI agent spoke to the group about their support.

3. Coincidences in the media.  Three networks covered the event.  Fox17's coverage followed a story about a congregation severing its relationship with the Boy Scouts of America over new pro-gay policies.  WSMV's rally story followed a piece about a teen who had been bullied and sexually exploited.  Here is a link to Channel 5's coverage.  Had there been no Spirit Day coverage, the picture for youth in our area would have been pretty bleak.

4. Working together.  LGBT organizations in Tennessee work together all the time.  But the community may not see it often enough.  I think they got to see a strong partnership tonight and will continue to generate solutions for safer schools.

5.  Adults seeing the need?  I put a question mark on that one because I just don't know.  The media thankfully included the bullying statistics for the state in their stories.  I hope adults in power to change policy noticed.  I know we'll have to keep making our case.

On Wednesday afternoon, a Senate Education subcommittee convened to discuss issues of governance at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and in higher education throughout the state.  The issue that brought legislators together--a controversy over gender neutral pronouns at UT-K--was actually barely discussed.

Everyone ended up agreeing that there never had been a policy requirement for gender neutral pronouns at UT-K, but that didn't stop legislators from discussing anything and everything else related to diversity issues in higher education.

Issues of diversity budgeting, staffing, and goal setting came up.  Sex Week came up.  Some legislators suspected that students who are pro-Western civilization are marginalized and that pro-Western civilization faculty are few. 

One legislator assured the small crowd that he has African-American friends before raising questions about freedom of speech and assembly. 

One senator really summed the whole thing up when he asked why he was there.  It really wasn't clear why the hearing was taking place, though the chairman did try to keep things focused.

And that's all right, in one sense.  I'm glad we didn't have to sit through an afternoon of attacks on transgender and gender non-conforming students.  On the other hand, considering that the pronoun issue really wasn't addressed, I have to wonder what on earth is going to land in the final report of recommendations to the full Senate Education Committee.

Time will tell.