HRC Blog

Ed. Note: This post is from Jonathan Cole, chair of the Tennessee Equality Project Shelby County Committee (pictured below). Back in February, Pete Kotz, editor of the Nashville Scenewrote that "gays have no public clout" in reaction to Shelby County Senator Paul Stanley's introduction of a bill in the Tennessee General Assembly  that would prevent gay people from adopting children.  Kotz made the claim because Sen. Stanley felt that he could take on the gay community, suffer no consequences, and galvanize his base of support in Shelby County. Fast forward from February in Nashville to June 1 in Memphis -- the first day of Gay Pride Month.  Hundreds of supporters of a non-discrimination ordinance sponsored by Commissioner Steve Mulroy filled the meeting chamber of the Shelby County Commission.  The day before, over 500 people lined the street on the front steps of First Congregational Church to rally behind the ordinance, which sought to establish workplace protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees of county government.  Supporters represented the diverse community of Shelby County: men and women of many racial and ethnic backgrounds; parents and children; a multi-faith coalition; Democrats, Republicans, and independents; gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and straight people. Our rally was a marked contrast to the press conference organized by our opponents a few days earlier.  Commissioner Wyatt Bunker and a group of all-male preachers attempted to distort the true intent of the ordinance with mean-spirited lies about a "homosexual agenda."  Opponents of fairness at the press conference did more than anyone to motivate support among our allies for the workplace protections proposed by Commissioner Mulroy.   The Tennessee Equality Project and supporting organizations already had a good ground game before the ordinance appeared on the agenda for the first vote.  Emails and phone calls to Shelby County Commissioners overwhelmed critics by 6 to 1.  The Human Rights Campaign's email to members in Shelby County was a significant boost in helping keep the pressure on the County Commission. Despite our strong organization, resistance to the ordinance created obstacles in the Commission's General Government Committee.  A substitute resolution with weaker provisions replaced the original ordinance at the June 1 meeting of the full County Commission, but  commissioners enacted workplace protections for GLBT employees with a bipartisan vote of 9 to 4.  The resolution which prohibits discrimination of employees based on non-merit factors is bolstered by commissioners' specific discussion of legislative intent that covers county employees, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.  The binding provisions of the resolution allow recourse for employees in civil service hearings and in chancery court.  We did not achieve all we hoped for, but for the first time a county government in Tennessee has extended employment protections to its gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees. Score one for our community's clout!