One week and one day to help pass Metro ordinance

What can you do between now and August 18 to help pass the non-discrimination ordinance that protects Metro government employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity?In order to become law, every ordinance must pass three readings or votes.The non-discrimination ordinance has passed first reading, was deferred on August 6, and faces its next test a week and a day from now.It doesn’t give us much time, but there are some basic things we can all do.

First, you can email your Council Member and ask him or her to vote YES on second reading.All you have to do is go to http://www.tnep.org and we have all the Council Members’ names on the home page.As you scroll over each name, the Council Member’s email address comes up.If you don’t know your Council District, check your voter registration card.To make your email perfect, do two things.Make the subject line clear:“Vote YES on non-discrimination ordinance.”Some Council Members are getting so many emails that they only have time to read the subject lines.Next, include your street address (not your P.O. box) in the body of the email so that Council Members know you are a constituent.Much of the negative email is coming from outside Nashville.

Second, thank your Council Member if he or she voted YES to defer the ordinance on Thursday.The following district Council Members voted YES and need your thanks because their vote allowed us more time to deal with the amendments to the ordinance:Harrison, Murray, Jameson, Bennett, Page, Moore, LaLonde, Gilmore, Baker, Langster, Holleman, McGuire, Adkins, Foster, Coleman, and Todd.Again, you can find their email addresses by scrolling over their names at http://www.tnep.org .Use “Thanks for voting YES on non-discrimination deferral” as your subject line.Letting Council Members know we appreciate their help even on these procedural votes tells them that we are watching the process carefully.

Third, please, help spread the word.No matter how many events we’ve held, how much media attention the ordinance has received, and how much communication the organizations supporting the ordinance have sent out, there are lots of people who still don’t know about the effort to pass this important ordinance.Consider forwarding the link to this article to your friends.Personal contact from you will mean a great deal more than if they get another email from me.Please, take a minute to copy and paste the link into an email and send it to your list or post it on Facebook.

If you have other ideas about how you can get involved, we would love to hear them.Act fast and contact us at chris@tnequalityproject.com.We don’t have much time, but we can get a lot done in a week and a day.