Posts tagged LGBT in the South

…it appears that North Carolina has become the 30th state to outright ban marriage equality for her citizens.  As much as I love the South, it is so disheartening to watch hatred be inscribed in law.

Our illustrious governor here in Tennessee, Bill Haslam, signed the bill legalizing the “Special Access to Discriminate bill, therefore overturning Nashville-Davidson County Metro’s non-discrimination ordinance.  I wanted to wait until there was an official statement, not just spread rumor, and it seems that official confirmation has been released.  This is a truly sad day for Tennessee.  I really thought that as a conservative, in favor of small and locally run government, Haslam would veto this bill, but apparently equal treatment of Tennessee citizens isn’t part of his agenda as governor.  There is much work to be done, but we will get this overturned.  We have no choice.

Edited to Add: I just read that Nashville-based attorney Abby Rubenfeld is planning  lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of this law.  An unnamed NYC-based law firm is supposed to be aiding her. 

Well, it happened.  Our wonderful state senate in Nashville passed SB049 today, or the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill brought forward by the hate-mongering Stacey Campfield (R - Knoxville).  This is a sad day for Tennessee.  I honestly think this is one of the only times, if not the only, that I have even been ashamed to be form Tennessee. And I know I’m not the only one. 

But we won’t give up.  We WILL fight this.  I’ve had current and former teachers tell me that they’ll just have to go to jail because if a student comes to them and needs to talk about their sexual orientation ,their questions, their confusion, that these teachers will not turn a cold shoulder.  As teachers, it is not only their responsibility to educate scholastically, but also to nurture and to educate socially in the concepts of peace, love, tolerance, and acceptance.  How many more suicides does this country need to see before it realizes what it is doing to its children?

I would also like to point out that the Memphis media has yet to cover this in any detail, as far as I know.  My home city is the progressive capitol of this red state, yet Knoxville, in the heart of the mountains, already has articles across multiple platforms.  There’s just something odd about that. 

Today is a sad day in my home state of Tennessee.  The Senate Education Committee approved SB49 with a vote of 6-3, banning any teacher in grades K-8 from saying the word “gay” or “homosexual” in the classroom. 

Your first thought may be, “why would an elementary school teacher need to discuss these topics in the classroom?”  But it’s not just about discussing the topic.  The supposed reason for the bill, sponsored by Sen. Stacey Campfield (R - Knoxville), was to prevent homosexuality being discussed in a sex ed setting for young students.  I don’t necessarily agree with that thought, but I can see someone’s point.  One problem: no curriculum in the state has sex ed that mentions homosexuality.  The spokesman for the State Board of Education and the State Department of Education both say that they have no knowledge of anything like this going on.  But the language of the bill prohibits the words from being used at all. 

What about all the kids who need to speak to a guidance counselor and can’t, but need someone to talk to about their thoughts on sexuality.  Kids today seem to become aware of their sexual orientation at earlier and earlier ages.  Even in the late 90’s and coming from a militantly conservative Christian family, I knew at 12 years old that I was gay, although I was too afraid to even admit it to myself.  This can do nothing but exacerbate the issues that LGBTQ teens face today and further stigmatize and already stigmatized group.  I attempted suicide three times from 1998 until 2002 and I never felt I had anyone to talk to about it.  But if a child is told that they’re not even allowed to use the word, what does that do to their self-esteem to not be allowed to use a word to describe themselves. 

No good can come from this.  And, unfortunately, in our currently Republican controlled house, it likely to pass when it comes in front of the full floor.  I only pray that something can be done to stop it. 

I haven’t kept up with this lately, but I’m gonna start back up.  I’m gonna start back wiht a case of…well, I’m not quite sure what to call it. 

I first heard about this yesterday through twitter, via the Commercial Appeal’s (our local paper here in Memphis) Twitter account.  Then Nashville’s paper, The Tennessean picked it up, ans I saw it on their Twitter account.  Then The Knoxville New Sentinel got it.  Next thing I know, The Advocate’s Twitter has a story about the article.  It hit the national level. 

Bellevue Baptist Church (aka Fort God or Six Flags over Jesus), the church that I attended from the age of 5 until the age of 18, was in the news.  Bellevue, for those of you not in the area, is a megachurch with about 30.000 members.  Actually, I bet that number has dropped because of recent internal scandal, my generation’s disillusionment with the place having gone through all the things that happened there.  From teen preganancies that lead to suicide due to the staff’s inability to show compassion to sex scandals with church staff.  But that’s beside the point.  Big church, got it. 

Being the size that it is, Bellevue has traditionall had giant leagues that play nothing but other Bellevue teams.  But, they had decided to open their adult softball league to non-Bellevue teams.  There was another team that typically played in Bartlett (just north of the church) that had a lesbian coach and a few lesbains players.  The tema captain went to the interest meeting, paid the registration fee, and was all set for the season to start last week.  Then the churhc called the coach to set up a meeting to discuss an issue they were having.  In that meeting, the recreation minister said that they weren’t going to allow the team to play because their coach lead a “deviant lifestyle.”  I’m guessing that they didn’t know there were a few lesbian players too, but that wasn’t covered in the article. 

I think that is absolutely ridiculous.  Everyone knows that, as a general rule, Southern Baptists are pretty well anti-gay anything.  Big whoop.  YOU’RE PLAYING SOFTBALL.  What does it matter?  There had already been rules set up for all the teams that there was to be no PDA and no clothing with innapropriate language on it.  Sure, I can go for that.  There could be kids around.  But this was supposed to have been away for Bellevue to involve the greater Memphis community.  Great way to start excluding people before you even get started. 

One fo the articles brought up a great point.  A big part of it is likely that Bellevue couldn’t stand the idea that some of it’s members might actually see happy, well-adjusted gays and lesbians living a normal life.  And a big part of their platform againt homosexuality is that it’s abhorrent and that gay people aren’t capable of living a “normal” life.  That’s waht was pounded into my head for 13 years.  It’s also what lead to 3 suicide attempts.  And as I’ve realized while getting older, it’s a big reason I had such a problem telling even my best friend that I was gay.  I had been conditioned that as soon as I opened my mouth about it, everyone would drop me and run, screaming, in the other direction.  And it terrified me.  But, I have yet to encounter that reaction.  I’ve told 99% of the people I went to high school with, 1 cousin, my close friend’s parents all know, and no one has been anything but supportive.  I know my own family is likely to be a different story, but I feel I have enough support to make it through whatever comes. 

But this whole situation makes me angry.  The idea of children still being treated the way that I was is infuriating!  And didn’t Jesus teach that we should love everyone?  And that murder is the same as a lie in the eyes of Jehovah?  So, what is it that makes being gay such an atrocisty?  It jsut doesn’t add up. 

I think a quote from Ghandi is the perfect way to end this: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”