News in from Nashville, via change.org tell us of a horrible story of discrimination heading our direction if Glen Casada gets his way.
Nashville politicians are gearing up for a February 15 Metro Council meeting, where a proposed ordinance that would extend the city's anti-discrimination law to vendors and contractors is up for consideration. The goal of the proposed ordinance -- technically known as the Contract Accountability Non-Discrimination Ordinance -- is pretty simple and wise. If Nashville wants to be known as a city that values inclusion and diversity among all its residents, then any company that wants to do business with the city ought to not discriminate against anyone on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
But such a noble goal is running smack into the homophobic agenda of a State Representative in Tennessee, who believes that businesses should have every right to fire employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. That State Representative would be Rep. Glen Casada, who just plopped down some legislation that would forbid any municipality in the state of Tennessee from adopting an ordinance that requires vendors and contractors to adhere to non-discrimination policies inclusive of LGBT people.
That's right, as far as Rep. Casada is concerned, Tennessee should be a place where LGBT people have to regularly fear being fired from their job, being denied access to public accommodations, or being harassed because who they love. So much for that southern hospitality thing...
Here's how Rep. Casada's bill would work if passed into law. Instead of allow local communities in Tennessee to adopt their own nondiscrimination laws, Rep. Casada's bill would require all local governments to adopt Tennessee's statewide civil rights law. That law, while protecting against discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, sex, age or national origin, does not include any mention of sexual orientation or gender identity. And that's exactly Rep. Casada's goal -- to make sure that no local government in Tennessee feels empowered to recognize the existence of LGBT residents.
"The local government won’t be able to implement their morality on our local businesses," Rep. Casada told The City Paper last month.
Rep. Casada is part of a team of anti-gay activists, led by the Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT), that wants to forbid any city from adopting inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances. The head of FACT (which might be the most oxymoronic acronym in history, given that their position on this issue is rooted in FEAR instead of reality), David Fowler, even went so far as to say that failure to pass Rep. Casada's bill could "require certain private businesses to essentially recognize homosexual conduct and cross-dressing as a new civil right in employment practices."
Uncool. And also untrue. Because the LGBT-friendly ordinance being debated in Nashville at the moment would only require those businesses contracting with the city to adhere to inclusive non-discrimination policies. Private businesses could still choose to fire LGBT people until the cows come home; they just couldn't work with the city.
Here's the other ironic thing. Rep Casada and his allies are supposed to be diehard supporters of small government, given their championing of Republican values. Yet Rep. Casada's own bill would take power away from local governments, and force them to be controlled by state politicians who don't live in the area. How is that in-tune with "conservative" principles?
The simple answer is that it isn't. And that's a point the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) is making.
"I'm sure local government advocates will also be concerned by this legislation," said TEP spokesperson Chris Sanders. "So we'll explore a variety of alliances to fight back against it."
And speaking of TEP, they are doing great work to advance the Contract Accountability Non-Discrimination Ordinance in Nashville, collecting the names of nearly 60 businesses and organizations supportive of extending Nashville's nondiscrimination law to vendors and contractors. For these businesses, diversity and inclusion are good for the bottom line, and will help cement Nashville as a welcoming community for any company and any employee.
That's a message that Nashville would be wise to send come February 15. Help them do that by signing here.
More here Change.org News
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