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

667 SIGNATURES
1,000 signatures

Will you sign?

  • Burkley Allen
    signed 2016-12-31 04:54:59 -0600
    I have known and worked with many members of the LGBT community, and they have all been intelligent, hard-working, and productive members of our society. They deserve to be treated with dignity and tespect.
  • Joseph Kinley
    signed 2016-12-31 03:55:38 -0600
    LOVE “trumps” HATE!
  • Edith Urness-pondillo
    signed 2016-12-29 20:30:15 -0600
  • Rachel Siegel
    signed via 2016-12-29 09:12:45 -0600
  • Doug Alexander
    signed 2016-12-28 17:13:53 -0600
  • Jessica Barrows
    signed via 2016-12-28 11:03:06 -0600
  • Grayson Hester
    signed 2016-12-28 08:35:04 -0600
  • Benjamin Carrier
    signed 2016-12-27 16:47:11 -0600
  • Linda Depew
    signed 2016-12-27 08:56:21 -0600
  • Leslie Reed
    signed 2016-12-27 08:53:52 -0600
  • John Clark
    signed 2016-12-24 19:21:26 -0600
  • Michelle Banks
    signed 2016-12-24 19:11:04 -0600
  • Susan Johnston
    signed 2016-12-24 19:06:53 -0600
  • Alan Stogner
    signed 2016-12-23 22:10:23 -0600
    We just wanted to be treated like equal citizens, like human beings.
  • Catherine Henschen
    signed 2016-12-23 12:42:09 -0600
  • Patricia Sanders
    signed 2016-12-23 12:30:53 -0600
  • Virginia Solomon
    signed 2016-12-23 12:03:26 -0600
  • Kevin Williams
    signed via 2016-12-23 09:09:25 -0600
    I support the LGBT community against government sanctioned discrimination in favor of civil rights.
  • Diana Page
    signed 2016-12-23 08:13:52 -0600
  • Tracy Heart
    signed 2016-12-23 07:14:07 -0600
  • Greta Smith
    signed 2016-12-23 06:54:43 -0600
    Greta Smith
  • David Ward
    signed 2016-12-23 06:07:54 -0600
  • John Hairston
    signed 2016-12-23 06:05:06 -0600
  • Ellen Simard
    signed 2016-12-22 21:32:13 -0600
    it is time to stop the hate! We are all human for crying out loud! A person’s life style is their business, not ours! Time to let them be, let them live their lives…they aren’t doing you or anyone else any harm!! Enough already… Love thy neighbor!
  • donivan potter
    signed 2016-12-22 21:11:38 -0600
  • Diane Tinsley
    posted about this on Facebook 2016-12-22 19:44:15 -0600
    Sign the petition: LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans
  • Diane Tinsley
    signed via 2016-12-22 19:43:26 -0600
  • Emma Takvoryan
    signed 2016-12-22 19:18:44 -0600
  • Justin Phelps
    signed 2016-12-22 19:08:47 -0600
  • Patti Mahaney
    signed 2016-12-22 19:01:00 -0600

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