It’s true, the instinct strikes when you hear the news.
“Lawmakers in Tennessee just passed an anti-LGBT law! If they don’t like me there, then I won’t go there… and I’ll take my conference with me.”
It makes sense if you believe the Tennessee General Assembly passes laws targeting people who don’t live in the state, though, by definition, that is absurd. There is always political obfuscation and circularity when it comes to the legislators’ stated intentions regarding these social issues, but let’s be real: the Republican supermajority in the Tennessee legislature passed HB1840—the counseling discrimination law—because they want to oppress the gay people who live here.
Nashville, to be clear, is a progressive city and is ironically subject to the greatest losses when organizations fail to follow through on their two- or three- or four-day confabs originally scheduled for here because those plans directly supported the city. More than they did the state.
Organizers of the American Counseling Association and the Human Rights Campaign moved their conferences out of Nashville to send a message to Tennessee lawmakers, but what message are they sending LGBT Tennesseans?
David Taylor is a co-owner of Tribe and Play, two premier and highly visible LGBT businesses in Nashville. He is also a former member of the board of governors at the Human Rights Campaign and a 2010 recipient, along with his husband Michael Ward, of the HRC Legacy Award, one that among other things “honors a long-term commitment to the mission of HRC.” On Friday, Taylor took to Facebook and shared his thoughts on the organization’s choice to skip Tennessee with its Time to Thrive conference.
Greatly disappointed with the Human Rights Campaign for pulling out of Nashville for their 2017 Time to Thrive Conference. Do they really think that this "cut and run" strategy is the best way to change things? What better way to get publicity, educate folks, and highlight the awful TN counseling law than to come to the state with participants who could be impacted by the law?
HRC may think they are punishing Tennessee, but they are punishing NASHVILLE. I've spent 20+ years supporting HRC, and this feels like a knee-jerk, easy-way-out, publicity-seeking betrayal.
I get it now, Charlotte, NC—you did nothing wrong—in fact you were trying to do the right thing by passing nondiscrimination laws—and you are suffering the brunt of the NC backlash for it. How is that right? Charlotte and Nashville should be celebrated for being inclusive in spite of our legislatures.
And those who think they are taking some morally superior stance by avoiding our cities should think twice about who they are really hurting. It's demoralizing to the progressive oases in the South, and the folks who voted for these laws couldn't care less.
There is perhaps an unwitting oversight from the progressive hubs of America regarding the LGBT residents in the places where anti-LGBT legislation is passed. A story popped up in many of our newsfeeds this past week from the national news site The Advocate called “A Brief History of Homophobia.” A sideshow, it highlighted former State Senator Stacey Campfield’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills, a summation of what must be Marsha Blackburn’s social policy philosophy, as well as candidate Mark Clayton’s failed bid in 2012 for a U.S. Senate seat (who never stood much a chance, to begin with).
Regarding HB1840, The Advocate referenced the original language of the bill (“sincerely held religious belief”) and did not mention the revised and diluted “sincerely held principles” that was substituted before the bill passed, or the work of the Tennessee Equality Project in fighting the bill.
Of course, a story intended to remind us of homophobia in the region isn’t required to share any highlights and successes we’ve experienced, such as the work of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition in keeping Tennessee’s anti-trans bathroom bill off the books this past legislative session.
But that’s the problem. The story wasn’t written for gay Tennesseans, or any Tennessean for that matter. If anything, it puts LGBT Tennesseans on the defensive. It inherently asks, “why do you continue to live in Tennessee?”
We ran into this many times during the run-up to marriage equality. Organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign routinely strode through town, collecting wads of cash from (mostly) liberal Nashville, took it back to Washington, and then pooled it all into a fund that supported LGBT equality in other parts of the country. We sat back and watched marriage equality pass in that state over there, and there, and there, complicit in the assumption that we’ll win our rights by fiat and that we’d just have to wait it out.
The struggle is here. It’s always been here. And while the leaders of national organizations in support of LGBT equality continue to sidestep Tennessee, we’re left to assume the conversation all along only involved … them?
Jennifer Sheridan, a local filmmaker who’s at work on a documentary regarding Tennessee politics and its relationship with religious organizations in the state, can appreciate both the perspective of the organizations bailing on us and those progressives in the state who feel left behind. On Facebook she shared these thoughts.
Everybody's weighing in on different orgs pulling their conventions/business out of Tennessee in light of recent anti-LGBT legislation so here's my 2 cents on one boycott in particular. Am I glad the American Counselling Association cancelled their scheduled convention in Nashville? Yes.... and no. TN state lawmakers basically pissed all over the ACA, passing a law that violates the ACA's Code of Ethics, overriding the self-governing body of those professionals.
Can't blame the ACA one bit, but after thinking about this a good deal I wish they had come here and used their convention to publicly condemn what Tennessee had done, and used the opportunity to focus on spreading awareness through their membership about LGBT discrimination across this country, and how that can affect a person's health and well-being.
Clearly, our community (along with the general public) need counselors who are supportive of the troubles we all face in day-to-day life, and there are hearts and minds to be won over -- even within the ACA membership. So while I don't blame them (and in all likelihood would have felt I had little choice but to do what they did if I'd been in their position), I wish it had turned out differently.
As for everyone else who is dumping Nashville... I hope they all come back and spend money here, and soon. The state relies heavily on convention revenue, and if that revenue drops the first things to go are social services provided to our most vulnerable populations. So I'm hoping that orgs can think over the long term effects we'll face here if they choose to boycott. It's got to be expensive to cancel convention plans -- maybe if they continued with those plans and put in a couple of dollars to support local LGBT groups that fight discriminatory legislation instead, that might help us all more in the long run.
So to all you convention planners: the sword you hurl at Tennessee when you bypass us is double-edged. There is work to be done here, so maybe you could step up and help when you come here, instead of wagging a finger at lawmakers who don’t care either way.
Nashville is still the perfect city for your meetings and symposia, your summits.
Come see.