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Daniel Weaver posted about LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans on Facebook 2016-12-18 04:37:12 -0600Sign the petition: LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans
LGBTQ open letter to our fellow Tennesseans
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An open letter from Tennessee's LGBTQ community to our fellow Tennesseans
As members of the LGBTQ community, we write to our fellow Tennesseans a month after the election and a month before the upcoming state legislative session.
In recent weeks members of our community have experienced grave assaults on our safety and dignity. A gay, gender nonconforming man was murdered. A transgender woman’s car was burned. The signs and doors of a church that affirms our community have been vandalized. A gay couple received a package with a knife sticking out and a message attached urging them to leave the state.
These attacks upon individuals and institutions have put our lives and safety at even greater risk than usual. They contravene the welcoming traditions of hospitality for which Tennessee is known.
The time we have entered is critical. Many are calling for healing in the wake of a divisive election. Healing is difficult while fresh wounds are being inflicted such as discriminatory state legislation.
So we are speaking out for our safety, dignity, and equal rights under the law.
Our struggle is not against your values, unless you value discrimination. LGBTQ Tennesseans are your neighbors, your family members, your health care providers, firefighters, grocery clerks, teachers, elected officials, and we fill many other roles vital to the life of small towns and large cities. Many of us grew up and continue to be active in the same faith communities as you.
In the long story of our community’s struggles, we have relied on our own strength to sustain us. We have also experienced the joy of working with countless allies. Now is a time for allies to speak out with us and we invite people of good will throughout the state to build a stronger, inclusive, welcoming Tennessee to meet our state’s common challenges together.
If you share these values and priorities, we invite you to add your name to this letter.
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Daniel Weaver posted about Keep Tennessee Open For Business on Facebook 2016-04-11 00:59:45 -0500I'm endorsing Tennessee Equality Project. Please join me!
Keep Tennessee Open For Business
The response to discriminatory laws in Indiana, North Carolina, and Mississippi makes it clear that everyone is affected. So we all have a role to play in making sure that Tennessee is able to attract good jobs and keep our economy open for business. That includes conservatives, independents, and business people, too. Please, endorse Keep Tennessee Open For Business. Use your voice and your influence to speak out for a prosperous Tennessee.
Economic opportunity allows individuals to live up to their potential and keeps families strong. Discriminatory laws in other states have resulted in billions of dollars of losses because of boycotts and companies reconsidering their investments . Tennessee cannot afford to go down that road. Legislation like HB1840, which allows counselors to discriminate, and HB2414, which micromanages which bathrooms students are allowed to use, risks Tennessee's prosperity.
I endorse Keep Tennessee Open For Business to say that I stand for economic opportunity for our state and against discriminatory legislation that poses a threat to our future.
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Daniel Weaver posted about VETO Hate Bill 1840, the Counseling Discrimination bill on Facebook 2016-04-09 16:52:16 -0500Sign the petition: VETO Hate Bill 1840, the Counseling Discrimination bill
VETO Hate Bill 1840, the Counseling Discrimination bill
Please, add your voice and urge Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam to veto this discriminatory bill.
Add signatureDear Governor Haslam,
We urge you to veto HB1840, which allows counselors to turn away clients based on the counselor's biases and values. This bill puts the focus on the desires of counselors rather than on the needs of clients, damaging the counseling profession and putting clients at risk.
An anti-bullying amendment was stripped from the bill in the House Health Committee leaving youth vulnerable in areas where mental health services are not widely available.
Thank you for considering our views.
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Daniel Weaver posted about The People's Resolution Opposing Tennessee House Joint Resolution 529 on Marriage Equality on Facebook 2016-01-22 20:56:08 -0600I'm endorsing Tennessee Equality Project. Please join me!
The People's Resolution Opposing Tennessee House Joint Resolution 529 on Marriage Equality
Sign on as a co-sponsor of the People's Resolution Opposing Tennessee House Joint Resolution 529 on Marriage Equality.
WHEREAS, Rep. Susan Lynn has introduced a resolution urging the members of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee to express their disagreement with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges; and
WHEREAS, the Tennessee Constitution affirms "That the citizens have a right, in a peaceable manner, to assemble together, for their common good, to instruct their representatives, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government for redress of grievances or other proper purposes, by address or remonstrance;" and
WHEREAS, the State of Tennessee ought to be focused on the legal equality of all its people rather than attacking the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community; and
WHEREAS, "the equal protection of the laws" is a cherished principle in American jurisprudence; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, that we oppose House Joint Resolution 529 and urge the members of the 109th General Assembly of the State of Tennessee to uphold the entire Constitution of the United States, including the Fourteenth Amendment, and cease their legislative attacks on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
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Daniel Weaver posted about Endorse the Chattanooga Non-Discrimination Ordinance on Facebook 2015-07-06 21:38:53 -0500I'm endorsing Tennessee Equality Project. Please join me!
Endorse the Chattanooga Non-Discrimination Ordinance
The first reading of the Chattanooga non-discrimination ordinance is July 14. It would add sexual orientation and gender identity or expression to the city's non-discrimination policy for government employees. Do you support basic fairness for Chattanooga employees? Your Chattanooga-area congregation, organization, or business can endorse this important change.
Endorsing the ordinance are the following:
Amulet Entertainment Group
Mercy Junction Justice and Peace Center
Tennessee Equality Project Hamilton-Bradley Counties Committee
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