February 28, 2016

Contact:  Chris Sanders, 615-390-5252, [email protected]

Nashville, TN--The Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) announced today that more than 75 Tennessee ministers and rabbis have added their names to a letter opposing HB2414 up for consideration on March 1 in the House Education Administration and Planning Subcommittee.

The bill restricts Tennessee public K-12 and higher education students to restrooms and changing rooms that correspond to the gender on their birth certificates.  The bill, like others across the country, targets transgender and gender non-conforming students.

The clergy letter reads: 

As clergy serving people of faith in Tennessee, we oppose HB2414/SB2387. This legislation is detrimental to transgender students by exposing them to violence and increasing the likelihood that they will drop out of school or take their own lives.  Faith teaches us to cherish all people, especially those targeted by legislation that fails to recognize them as they are and subjects them to harm.  We respectfully call on the Tennessee General Assembly to reject this bill.

"Clergy in East, West, and Middle Tennessee are speaking out against this bill because at the heart of morality is how we treat those who are already marginalized," notes TEP executive director Chris Sanders.  "Transgender and gender non-conforming students already face significant bullying from their peers.  It is devastating when legislators pile on with laws targeting them."

For a full list of clergy who have added their names to the letter, go to this link. 

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