LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans

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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.

Who's signing

666 SIGNATURES
1,000 signatures

Will you sign?

  • Erin Mills
    signed 2016-12-17 19:22:53 -0600
  • Kimberly Harper
    signed 2016-12-17 19:20:19 -0600
  • Terry Vickers
    signed 2016-12-17 19:11:07 -0600
  • Ginger Isom
    signed 2016-12-17 19:08:56 -0600
    I stand in support of my LGBTQ friends and parisioners.
  • Andrea Hewitt
    signed 2016-12-17 19:03:17 -0600
  • Kathy Sanders
    signed 2016-12-17 18:49:28 -0600
  • Tacie Overbeck
    signed 2016-12-17 18:45:42 -0600
  • Jacqueline Presley-Grizzle
    signed via 2016-12-17 18:43:54 -0600
  • Amber Rominger
    signed via 2016-12-17 18:43:19 -0600
  • Becky Monica
    posted about this on Facebook 2016-12-17 18:42:02 -0600
    Sign the petition: LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans
  • Becky Monica
    signed 2016-12-17 18:41:42 -0600
  • Chiquita Bishop
    signed 2016-12-17 18:35:03 -0600
  • Amie Hollis
    posted about this on Facebook 2016-12-17 18:31:41 -0600
    Sign the petition: LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans
  • Jenness Schuhmann
    signed 2016-12-17 18:31:32 -0600
  • Amie Hollis
    signed 2016-12-17 18:31:02 -0600
  • Mark Ellis
    signed via 2016-12-17 18:25:57 -0600
    My family is one of the first of the Europeans to settle in Tennessee. I’m a descendent of William Bean. I think we go back nine generations. However, the hatred and ignorance openly displayed now has sickened me. I no longer want to live in Tennessee. In fact, I plan to retire in a few years and leave the state to live somewhere where education is valued, where every individual is important, and where a person can speak his or her mind or love and care for anyone, regardless of gender or race. This state is no longer the Tennessee I grew up in.
  • Deen Thompson
    signed 2016-12-17 18:14:50 -0600
  • Forrest Moody
    posted about this on Facebook 2016-12-17 18:12:34 -0600
    Sign the petition: LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans
  • Robert Smith
    signed 2016-12-17 18:09:28 -0600
  • Forrest Moody
    signed 2016-12-17 18:09:01 -0600
  • Lance and Jenny Peterson
    signed via 2016-12-17 18:03:09 -0600
  • Benjamin Hale Giannini
    signed 2016-12-17 17:58:18 -0600
  • Elliott Prigmore Lewis
    posted about this on Facebook 2016-12-17 17:54:02 -0600
    Sign the petition: LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans
  • Elliott Prigmore Lewis
    @malewis61 tweeted link to this page. 2016-12-17 17:54:00 -0600
  • Elliott Prigmore Lewis
    signed 2016-12-17 17:53:06 -0600
  • Amanda Royalty
    signed via 2016-12-17 17:45:24 -0600
    Amanda Royalty
  • Sabrina Mcdonald
    signed 2016-12-17 17:37:15 -0600
  • sarah norman
    signed 2016-12-17 17:31:38 -0600
    sarah norman
  • Elizabeth Spencer
    signed 2016-12-17 17:30:11 -0600
  • Drew Harrell
    posted about this on Facebook 2016-12-17 17:21:29 -0600
    Sign the petition: LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans

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