Spencer Bowers, senior staff member for the Mike Bloomberg 2020 campaign in Tennessee, told a crowd at Tribe Monday night Bloomberg has deep roots in the LGBTQ+ community.

“He lobbied for same sex marriage and officiated the first same sex marriage in New York,” said Bowers, who serves as digital director for the campaign. “For the last four years, Mike’s company, Bloomberg LP, earned a 100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index and has been named a “Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality.’”

Bloomberg 2020 held the happy hour event, “Proud with Mike,” to follow up on the rollout of the Bloomberg 2020 LGBTQ+ platform. The plan includes a reversal of the multitude of policy setbacks the community has experienced under the Trump administration and will:

• • Pass and sign the Equality Act into law. The Equality Act provides LGBTQ+ Americans with consistent non-discrimination protection in a variety of areas, including employment, housing, and access to credit.

  • Strengthen protections for transgender people.  Prioritize investigations of hate crimes by the FBI, training local authorities to identify hate crimes more readily, supporting community violence intervention programs, and improving data collection on homicides against LGBTQ+ Americans.

  • Address disparities in health care coverage. As president, Bloomberg says he will fund cultural competency training for medical and mental health care professionals to address bias and will invest in federal cure research and fully fund the Ryan White CARE Act, the primary source of federal funding for individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

Since announcing his candidacy for president, Bloomberg has made Tennessee a priority. He unveiled his health care policy in Memphis, detailing achievable reforms that will deliver better, affordable health care for all Americans. Bloomberg was also present for the opening of field offices in both Nashville and Knoxville.

Notable members of the community attending the event included Grammy-award nominated singer Mary Gauthier, Jeff Rymer, owner of Rymer Gallery, and environmental activist Bob Allen. Nationally, Mike has been endorsed by designer Isaac Mizrahi, Tim Gunn, former host of “Project Runway,” and Jon Barrett, former editor of The Advocate, among others.

Mike Bloomberg 2020 is fostering a sense of inclusivity, equality  and momentum Tennessee. The campaign opened its Nashville headquarters in December, and since launched field offices in Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Jackson, with three more offices slated to open.

Tennesseans go to the polls March 3 to vote in the Super Tuesday presidential primary. Early voting begins Wednesday, February 12.

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