The People's Petition Against the Slate of Hate

The people of Tennessee are speaking out against bills that result in discrimination against LGBTQ people in our state.  Here is our statement with a summary of the bills.

"As residents of Tennessee, we oppose these bills in the Tennessee General Assembly. They promote discrimination rather than justice and demean the worth of LGBTQ people in our state.  We call on people of good will to join us in speaking out for basic fairness."

The bills are:

SB848/HB1152 by Sen. Hensley and Rep. Ragan and SB1304/HB836 by Sen. Pody and Rep. Rudd.   These bills promote state-sanctioned discrimination by private adoption agencies against prospective parents on the basis of religious and moral objection.

SB364/HB563 by Sen. Gardenhire and Rep. Zachary.  The Business License to Discriminate bill.  The bill casts businesses rather than the LGBTQ community as possible victims of discrimination and opens the door to taxpayer funded discrimination.

SB1297/HB1151 by Sen. Pody and Rep. Ragan.  While the bill seems to be about indecent exposure, its original text is a devious attempt to criminalize transgender and gender nonconforming people in restrooms and locker rooms.  The bill has been amended in a House subcommittee to remove the portions targeting the transgender community.  We want to make sure the amendment remains on the bill.

SB1499/HB1274 by Sen. Hensley and Rep. Holt. This bill requires the Attorney General to defend school districts that engage in anti-transgender bathroom discrimination.  

SB1282/HB1369 by Sen. Pody and Rep. J. Sexton.  The Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act is an attack on marriage equality.

Who's signing

2,020 SIGNATURES
1,000 signatures

Will you sign?

  • Alex Blue
    signed 2021-03-30 19:43:22 -0500
  • B David Beers
    signed 2021-03-30 17:08:18 -0500
  • Emily Umfress
    signed 2021-03-29 07:49:17 -0500
  • Noah Burney
    signed 2021-03-27 02:46:48 -0500
    I’m a bisexual woman.

    It’s my choice to love who I want to love.

    Love is not bound by mans law ,but the freedom of the individual.
  • Taylor Peterson
    signed 2021-03-26 23:03:12 -0500
  • Kendra Andersen
    signed 2021-03-26 22:53:06 -0500
    I live in Elizabeth and Tennessee in the very upper East parts I am nonbinary and pansexual. Many of my friends that I grew up with in this part of the South love our country and the South as our home. Your attacking our freedoms and placinf our pursuit of life liberty and happiness on thr line by these anti lgbtq+ laws your passing. They are against the constitution and you And every other citizen of this marvelous country have no right to attack the Constitution. What you’re doing makes you no better than a domestic terrorist threat, it is treason to be doing what your doing. It is putting the lives of other people that have lived in this state since the beginning of their lives at risk and is not OK. Just because you can’t tolerate that they exist that we exist we are people too we bleed red just like you do our hearts have the same emotions a, is someone we love passes we still grieve so on and so forth we still require doctors appointments to take care of our sick bodies and require the love and no isolation to be able to thrive. I want you all and Tennessee government to realize that by an acting these laws you are going above and beyond to show that you’re no better than Adolf Hitler and are EVERYTHING THAT IS WHAT THIS COUNTRY AND ITS FREEDOMS ARE NOT!!! Whenever our forefathers came over to this country they didn’t state that you had to be a certain sexual orientation a certain gender a certain creed race or even age or disability they came over a to find a country that all people would be welcome and free from persecution if you as a government and cannot do this then you should leave your post and resign because we the taxpayers include people who were are LGBTQ+!!! Furthermore, growing up and having friends in this area people’s parents would disown them and kick them the out making them easy targets for those with unsavory intentions. Your risking this occuring more and if you can sleep at night knowing your risking ANY PERSON YOUR BEING PAID TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THEN YOU DO NOT BELONG IN OFFICE.
  • Lake Best
    signed 2021-03-18 21:01:37 -0500
  • Walter Davis
    signed 2021-02-14 16:19:00 -0600
  • Kate Rabulinski
    signed 2020-06-07 13:40:20 -0500
  • Gloria Sukidi
    signed 2020-06-07 12:18:26 -0500
  • Chelsea Reed
    signed 2020-05-27 13:49:57 -0500
  • Alan Black
    signed 2020-04-04 10:05:43 -0500
  • Lexi Watts
    signed 2020-02-06 18:24:03 -0600
    what is so wrong about being me? look, i obviously don’t know a lot, I’m only 17 years old, but why does my sexuality and identity have to be seen as a bad thing? Sure, I can understand somebody not necessarily being like “oh yeah! i totally understand and appreciate your life decisions and will never treat you differently after learning about it!”, but does it really go so far as people genuinely hate me because of something that i can’t control? sure, i could hide it, i so could. I mean I get that people have religions that condemn people like me, but that shouldn’t be allowed. like I know that it’s like their whole thing in life and everything, but should laws actually allow discrimination because of their beliefs? i mean i know i can’t just go to a church and disrespect everything there, i wouldn’t. but at a business, can’t they separate that from their beliefs? like what am i supposed to do? have my own kids? that isn’t possible for me, and just because of my partner, i can’t raise a kid? i don’t mean now, obviously. but am i just supposed to accept that? if they had their human rights taken away, i would still want to help them. i mean, i know not everyone is a kind person, but we’re all people. i don’t want to hurt others with my ideals. and i know that that’s why i’ll never be understood by more than like 10 people but if everyone could be at least a little more understanding, this hell of a life would be a little better for everyone stuck here. why should some people have to be afraid because of things that they can’t be in control of? how have humans been living for thousands of years if not tens of thousands or whatever, and still be racist or discriminate people on things that they can’t help? i think that these people that support laws allowing discrimination aren’t really looking at it from any other perspective other than theirs. and should that be present in people who can propose laws? like, egocentric people can be helpful dealing with similar issues to what they have, but they’re in charge of protecting so many groups of people. and yet they can do that while being so close-minded? how does that work? if you could answer any of these questions i have, please help me to understand. i want to know how to change this, so my future isn’t full of more fear than what i already deal with.

    -sincerely, a very confused teen who wants change.
  • Denise Box
    signed 2019-09-29 19:37:02 -0500
    Denise L Box
  • Sadie Strain
    signed 2019-06-03 17:22:38 -0500
  • James Wells
    signed 2019-06-01 02:43:33 -0500
  • Teresa Wright
    signed 2019-05-20 10:32:33 -0500
  • Luciana Tamaki
    signed 2019-05-16 12:34:50 -0500
    Luciana
  • Robin Lennon-Dearing
    signed 2019-05-07 13:05:39 -0500
    Research has found that having a personal relationship with a friend, relative, or coworker from the LGBT community significantly improves attitudes toward sexual and gender minorities. Take the opportunity to get to know all of your neighbors and constituents, not just some of them. Thank you.
  • Cheyenne Schlecht
    signed 2019-05-01 19:30:36 -0500
    STOP THIS NOW! WE NEED EQUAL RIGHTS EVERYONE IS EQUAL!
  • Raghed Rhoma
    signed 2019-05-01 18:51:10 -0500
    Why is Tennessee doing this? That is just disgusting! We need to be a lot more excepting!!
  • Madison Deaton
    signed 2019-05-01 16:21:20 -0500
    The fact that I have to sign this is ridiculous
  • Ava Nat
    signed 2019-05-01 13:39:05 -0500
  • Christina White
    signed 2019-05-01 12:45:04 -0500
  • Kay Hereford Voorhees
    signed 2019-05-01 10:31:50 -0500
  • Zane Whitney
    signed 2019-05-01 09:16:06 -0500
  • Willow Jackson
    signed 2019-05-01 01:29:36 -0500
  • Kaitlin
    signed 2019-05-01 00:34:01 -0500
  • Lindsey Akers
    signed 2019-04-30 22:53:56 -0500
    Please don’t enforce these laws.
  • Kaylee W
    signed 2019-04-30 20:42:09 -0500

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