Don't Say Gay bill passes in committee
The infamous Don’t Say Gay bill in Tennessee, once nearly long gone, is gaining momentum once again.
The bill made it out of a committee yesterday and now heads to the House for a full vote, though Republican governor Bill Haslam says he doesn’t believe it should be a priority at the moment. More from The Advocate:
He also seemed unhappy to have what was called “the monkey bill” land in his lap last month. Instead of signing the law, which extends legal protections to teachers who want to discuss the possibility that creationism is real or that global warming isn’t, Haslam waited and waited and eventually let the law go into effect without his signature.
Last time around, the House ran out of time to vote on the “don’t say gay” law while the Senate actually passed it. It would bar teachers and administrators from any talk of homosexuality before high school and violators would face fines and jail time. Backers of the bill don’t appear to be backing down.I will be so furious if this goes through. I’m shocked that Tennessee has nothing better to do than impose these harsh judgements and homophobic rules on students.
(via fuckyeahsexeducation)
Source: gaywrites
Woman denied partner visitation in hospital, despite laws
A woman from Tennessee was denied the right to visit her partner in a local hospital because the two are not legally family or spouses, Out and About reports.
Val Burke tried several times to visit her partner in Rolling Hills Hospital’s residential facility and was denied every time. She had been previously allowed in the room only if her partner’s mother was present.
Recent federal laws allow patients at most hospitals - that is, those participating in Medicare and Medicaid - to determine their own visitation standards. This hospital does qualify under that policy, but Burke was denied visitation anyway. The hospital administration has not commented on why this happened.
“I went to visit her at the appropriate visiting time and was turned away,” she says. “We have been living together for three years now, but that didn’t matter to them either. The rest of her family is out of town, so she didn’t have any one visit her.”
This. Is. Not. Acceptable.
(via walkwithcompassion)
Source: gaywrites
Nashville paramedic suspended after anti-gay posts | 365gay.com
A Nashville paramedic was suspended after posting anti-gay comments on the Nashville Fire Department Emergency Medical Services’ Facebook page as well as his own page.
He posted that homosexuality is a perversion and that two gay EMS workers should “crawl back into the closet,” according to The Tenneseean.
Kevin Kennedy, who has been with the Nashville Fire Department for 20 years, must attend an anger management class and a diversity training class at his own expense before he is re-instated.
“We have a diverse group of employees in the fire department who respond to the needs of a diverse community,” said Deputy Chief Kim Lawson to the Tennessean. “This disrupts the order of discipline. We have an important job. These actions in no way are tolerated.”
LGBTQ vs TN - LGBTQ Nation!
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/05/nashville-attorney-planning-lawsuit-to-challenge-tennessees-anti-gay-law/
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/06/group-files-lawsuit-against-tennessee-challenging-anti-gay-discrimination-law/
But TN wants to keep the hate alive!
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/05/lesbian-couple-who-lost-home-in-suspected-arson-fire-sued-by-insurance-company/
Source: youjolgbtq
At Least 13 Huge Companies Supported Tennessee’ s Repeal Of Nashville’s LGBT Protections
The Tennessee senate surprised no one by voting to repeal Nashville’s LGBT protections for city contractors.
What is surprising however is that the Tennessee Chamber of Commerced who lobbied heavily in against the LGBT protections those rights has a handful of large, well-known corporations serving as board members.
Cue the petition and prepare the boycott!
BREAKING: “Don’t Say Gay” Passes the Tennessee Senate
As expected, lawmakers have passed the bill that would make it illegal to talk about gays in Tennessee schools. Or, as George would have us say, “to talk about Takeis.”
There was just one minor tweak before they passed it: now, it only applies to K-8.
So, the very thin silver lining is that at least it won’t apply to high schoolers.
Because to discuss Ellen DeGeneres and Tchaikovsky with anyone who has not yet reached 9th grade is to put them in mortal danger.
Tennessee Passes ‘Don’t Say Gay’ and ‘Do Be Racist’ Bills
The recent passing of two ‘WTF’ bills has us wondering what in Dolly’s name is going on in Tennessee.
Luckily, George Takei has a solution. [WITH UPDATE]
Source: autostraddle
“OK to Say Gay” Rally in Knoxville, Tenn., Sunday | advocate.com
In response to Tennessee’s recently passed “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the Tennessee Equality Project and the Knoxville chapter of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) are sponsoring an “It’s OK to Say Gay” rally Sunday at a church in Knoxville.
Devon Hicks, interim chair of the Tennessee Equality Project Foundation’s Safe Schools Committee, says the rally is not about gay agendas or liberal agendas — it’s simply a matter of safety. “No student should feel unsafe going to school,” Hicks said.
“They shouldn’t have to worry about who’s going to be bullying and harassing them.”
According to KnoxNews.com, the rally — fueled by the Senate Bill 49, which Gary Elgin, former director of Knoxville Pride and Rainbow Community Awareness Project, says has caused the state “national embarrassment” — will kick off “several Tennessee-specific events aimed at supporting and empowering GLBT teens, and educating their parents, teachers and communities.”
“Tennesseans are not narrow-minded; it’s only the fringe and the far right who have made their voices the loudest,” says Elgin. “We are a state of peace-loving and quality-minded people, and our laws need to reflect that.”
The “It’s OK to Say Gay” rally is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
For more details, read the full story here.
Did anyone go to this? If so, how was it?
FCKH8.com: The "Teachers Can't Talk About Homos" Law
by FCKH8.com
A law to make it ILLEGAL for teachers to talk about gays?! This snarky F-bomb-filled video takes on the forces of Homo H8 in Tennessee.
FCKH8.com is giving 25¢ for every Facebook “Like” or Twitter tweet of this video up to $25,000 to the Tennessee Equality Project. A portion of every T-shirt sold benefits the cause. T-shirts start at $13.
Get yours at FCKH8.com!
Tenn. “Don’t Say Gay” bill passes committee
Tennessee’s State Judiciary Committee approved a bill prohibiting discussions of homosexuality in kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms.
The bill (SB49) will make it illegal to discuss(…)
Pastor Is Accused of Helping to Kidnap Girl at Center of Lesbian Custody Fight
Federal authorities last week arrested and charged a Tennessee pastor with aiding in the “international parental kidnapping” of a girl who has been missing since late 2009 and is at the center of a lengthy custody battle between her two mothers — a onetime lesbian couple who were in a civil union.
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Lisa Billings/Associated Press
Janet Jenkins has legal custody of a daughter born with Lisa Miller.
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Rick Foster/The Winchester Star, via Associated Press
Lisa Miller and the child disappeared in 2009.
The two had a bitter falling-out after one became an evangelical Christian and denounced the other’s continued “homosexual lifestyle.”
Their legal battle over visitation rights and custody, carried out over the last seven years in Vermont and Virginia courts, received wide publicity because of the clashes over sexual orientation and religion, and because it raised questions about the rights of nonbiological parents in same-sex unions that are not recognized in many states.
Lisa Miller, the girl’s biological mother and a newly fervent Baptist, was championed by conservatives for her efforts to shield her daughter from homosexuality. A Vermont court had granted her primary custody of the daughter, Isabella Ruth Miller-Jenkins, after Ms. Miller split with her partner, Janet Jenkins, in 2003. But the court also declared Ms. Jenkins to be a legal parent with liberal visiting rights, and Ms. Miller, who had moved with the girl to Virginia, defied repeated orders to permit the visits.
"Don't Say Gay" Bill Proposed In Tennessee
“You’re looking at legislation that is going to make sure that when you are talking about sexuality with students that it is age appropriate,” said Matthew Parsons, a father of seven children and founder of the group “Something Better.”
He says he’s in favor of the proposed bill that avoids talking about homosexuality to kids so young.
“If we’re talking about homosexuality, we are talking about specific acts that are going to be unhealthy for anybody to engage in outside of marriage.”
The bill, known as House Bill 229 or Senate Bill 49, says in part: “No public elementary or middle school shall provide any instruction or material that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality.”
Source: theriotmag
