To the Honorable Larry Waters, Mayor of Sevier County, and to the honorable members of the Sevier County Commission:

Calls have gone out across the country for Commissioner Warren Hurst to resign over his racist and homophobic comments. While that decision is in his hands, we call on you to censure him by resolution of the Sevier County Commission and to update the employment non-discrimination policy of Sevier County Government to protect county employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.  We urge you to make this policy change by executive order immediately, to be followed by a confirming ordinance or resolution of the County Commission. 

Dear Senators Alexander and Corker:

We urge you to act to oppose the Aderholt amendment allowing discrimination in foster care and adoption services in the FY19 House Labor-HHS appropriations bill and ensure that the measure is NOT included in any Senate or final appropriations bill.

It would allow taxpayer-funded foster care and adoption service providers to discriminate against children in care and against prospective parents, based on sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, and marital status.

The measure breaks the cardinal rule of child welfare services: to act in the best interest of the child. This amendment would actually HARM CHILDREN.

This amendment would greatly harm the 440,000 children in foster care, particularly the 117,000 who are waiting to be adopted into loving, forever homes.  There is a crisis in foster care due to the huge shortage of available families for children. Each year, over half the children waiting to be adopted do not find a loving home, and most devastatingly, over 17,000 foster youth age out of care without a forever family.  Those youth are at greater risk of involvement with the criminal justice system, homelessness, unemployment, and being trafficked.

Speak out against this poison pill amendment,; let your leadership know you will not support a funding bill with the measure included, and vote against any appropriations measure that includes such discriminatory provisions.  Thank you for considering our views.

Senator Alexander and Senator Corker:

When the President announces his choice to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, we urge you to speak up for the rights of LGBTQ people.  It is vitally important that members of the Supreme Court support the principle of "equal protection" and that Justice Kennedy's successor uphold the existing rights of LGBTQ people and oppose discrimination against LGBTQ people.  We respectfully ask you to raise these concerns publicly and not to vote for any nominee who supports discrimination.

Dear Speaker Ramsey and Speaker Harwell:

We oppose a special legislative session to consider an anti-transgender bathroom discrimination law.  It is never justified to spend the state's time and money to advance discrimination.  Thank you for considering our views.

Tennessee loves Target.  I support the company's transgender-inclusive policies and I will continue to shop at their stores.                                               

Governor Haslam, please continue to oppose HB2414 and listen to the voices of transgender students and the business community speaking out against the bill.  Thank you for considering our views.

Dear 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.

Cassie Hopkins, a young bisexual woman, had volunteered at Yoke Youth Ministries in Jefferson County.  The program is interdenominational and draws on the work of young adults to mentor middle-school students.  She had gone through the screening process and there were no complaints about her work as a volunteer.  After disclosing her sexual orientation on Facebook, her supervisor told her that she would no longer be allowed to volunteer, even though there is nothing in Yoke's written policies about sexual orientation.  Her supervisor compared bisexuality to alcoholism and drug addiction.

Let's show support for Cassie and remind our fellow Tennesseans and especially Yoke that people can serve and contribute to enriching the lives of youth in our state regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  This is a message Yoke and many others need to hear.  Please, add your voice. 

We are glad to partner with the LGBT Alumni of Carson-Newman on this project.  They first brought the case to our attention.

Note:  We are not arguing about whether anyone has the legal ability to discriminate in Tennessee.  What we are contesting is whether it is right to exclude talented people from helping youth simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. 

This week the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is holding a conference in Nashville on marriage, sexuality, and gender.  Add your voice to urge them to consider the impact of their teachings on violence against LGBT people and LGBT youth homelessness.  According to national estimates, up to 40% of the youth homeless population is LGBT.  Many of those youth were turned out of their homes because of certain kinds of religious bias.  We believe that rather than holding conferences on how to preserve marriage discrimination, the Southern Baptist Convention's leadership should begin to address the ways in which their teachings contribute to harms to LGBT people. 

TEP joined OutCentral and Vanderbilt Divinity School in organizing a protest of the event outside the Opryland Hotel.  TTPC and PFLAG also participated.  Your voice can help highlight needed changes in the Southern Baptist Convention's approach.