On January 27, Slate reported that the EEOC may withdraw from a case involving job discrimination against Amiee Stephens, a transgender woman.  New Commission chair Victoria Lipnic said "Administration-related changes" were the reason. 

TAKE ACTION!

1. Send your own email to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at [email protected] and urge the Commission to continue pursuing cases of LGBT job discrimination.

2. Sign the petition.  If we reach or exceed 1000 signatures, we will deliver them to the Nashville EEOC office.

Help us end the year strong with your tax deductible investment in the work of the TEP Foundation.  Your support grows programs like legislative tracking, Tennessee Open For Business, and Tennessee Equality Voice that shapes a media message for equality in our state.  Now more than ever we need to speak out!

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:

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.

Please, join us in encouraging Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam to fight against this attack on transgender students.

A generous board member has agreed to match contributions up to $5000 to support our work.  We only have $1000 more to go to meet the match.  Please, make your contribution today to help us reach the goal and keep fighting for you!

Tennessee Open For Business is a free program for Tennessee small businesses that pledge not to discriminate against their employees or customers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. That means that member businesses do not discriminate against gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender individuals or couples or do harm to the LGBTQ community.  Members will get a listing on our website, a post on Facebook, and a window cling suitable for display in their storefront. The program is made possible through generous support of the Brooks Fund of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

The Tennessee Equality Project reserves the right to refuse membership in this program to any applicant and to revoke the membership of any business.

You can see a list of some of the current members of Tennessee Open For Business at this link. 

For questions, contact us at [email protected].

We need you for the Tuesday Twitter Team.  Once you sign up, we'll send you a sample message to tweet on Tuesday that you can adapt or edit.

And every Tuesday or almost every Tuesday, we'll send you information about what needs to be tweeted that day.  You can help move the equality message forward in Tennessee every Tuesday.  Welcome to the TEP Tuesday Twitter Team!

SUPPORT OUR START UP!*  With the Supreme Court taking up the marriage issue, it looks as if marriage equality is FINALLY coming to Tennessee.  But that's not all that's coming.  Family Action Council of Tennessee is going to try to bring an Indiana-style RFRA to Tennessee again next year.  You'll remember that we beat the bill last year, the one we called "Turn the Gays Away." 

So we wondered what to do and how to prepare.

Then the answer came to us!

A startup, of course!  If bakers and pizza places can turn away LGBT people, why not start our own RFRA Wedding Cake Emporium to meet all your needs when the haters can't be bothered.  This is social entrepreneurship at its best.

So invest in our RFRA Wedding Cake Emporium where we welcome everyone!

Help us build a better wedding cake toward the $1000 level! Each completed cake layer means $500 toward our $3000 goal!

*(OK, so we're not actually starting a wedding cake emporium.  But when you make a donation, we can fight negative bills like RFRA and Mini Indy/Counseling Discrimination style bills in the Legislature and WIN!  Because your donation supports excellent professional lobbying and grassroots policy organizing, it is not tax deductible.  But it tastes great.  Wedding cake minus the discrimination.)