The TN Holler picked up on a story raised in a tweet by @JasonNashville, which asked: “Why is @BillLeeTN about to sign a bill that could prevent his own sister from adopting a child?” Steen’s tweet retweets a tweet by Cynthia Lee, which includes a photo from her 2017 marriage to her female partner. Yeah, that'll make for some awkward conversations about adoption discrimination, if Cynthia has the guts to confront the religious bigotry of her brother.
Governor Lee has vowed to sign the recently-passed Senate Bill 1304, which will allow religiously based adoption agencies to discriminate freely against those with whom they disagree theologically (LGBTQIA+ people, single people, Jews, Muslims, Atheists, liberal Christians, and even members of “that other Baptist Church”), while receiving public funds paid into the tax coffers by those very heretics and idolaters and being shielded from lawsuits. Isn’t this what the establishment of a religion looks like?
Steen and the TN Holler rightly question how Bill Lee, professing to be a Christian, could sign a bill that would force his sister to pay into a religious organization for a public service they can now legally, and without fear of consequence, deny her. This highlights the bigger question: how can a man who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States so vigorously attack the rights of his citizenry, ignoring his duty to whole swaths of individuals in this state who erroneously thought that they were citizens?
The answers to both are simple. He can use the law to strike out at his sister and hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans like her, and other disadvantaged groups because he’s the right kind of Christian, you’re all worthy of hell, and the State is now the arbiter of that. Isn’t this what theocracy smells like? Secondly, this being a Christian theocracy: convert or leave, you noisy, worthless heathens! Did I mention theocracy?
The Holler poses its closing in terms of advocating for Cynthia Lee: “Cynthia and her wife deserve to be treated just like everyone else in America, and should not be targeted and made to feel less than by our laws.” But Cynthia Lee is not an innocent victim.
Cynthia Lee, with now-First Lady Maria Lee, photo by Kerri Bartlett, from the Williamson Herald
Cynthia Lee supported and has supported her brother, knowing that her brother’s platform in 2018 included:
his belief that "marriage is between a man and a woman," and hints at transgender bathroom policies. He states "there are two sexes: female and male." But Lee said “most education issues are best decided at the local level.”
He also “said his goal is to see more children adopted in ‘traditional’ families.” So this evil bill is EXACTLY what Bill Lee has always wanted, and what Cynthia Lee has known he always wanted. Until she uses her privileged voice to join with the attacked, she remains a collaborator in her brothers attempt to grow theocracy in Tennessee.
While Bill Lee doesn’t care about you—he holds you in that kind of Christian love that can best be described as demonic hatred—he should still know how you feel about his evil.
Please contact his office by phone at (615) 741-2001 or write him at https://www.tn.gov/governor/contact-us.html.