Another Advancing Equality Day on the Hill has come and gone. The last appointment of the day started at 4:30. Despite some rescheduling and one confirmed no-show, my count is that our members visited 15 senators and 32 representatives today.
Most of the meetings were informative in nature, both for the legislators and for the participants. Legislators have such busy schedules that they can't possibly read all bills and today was the first that some of them had the chance to discuss the bills of concern to our community. Likewise, the experience was educational for our community. Some were pleasantly surprised by the positions of certain lawmakers; others got confirmation of positions they suspected that legislators held.
Participants came from Bristol, Knoxville, Oak Ridge, Chattanooga, Cleveland, Cookeville, Crossville, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Jackson, Memphis, and other cities. It was the most geographically diverse group we've ever brought to the event. The strategy of planting committees throughout the state, particularly in East Tennessee, paid off big.
I didn't have time to take a lot of pictures, but here are a few.
Coverage was good. Some of it will appear later in the Commercial Appeal, in the Tennessean, on Liberadio, and on NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, but here is a sampling of what is already available.
Terry Frank and I square off in the pages of the Tennessean on the adoption bill.
Out & About Newspaper's coverage.
Jeff Woods of the Nashville Scene and also here.
Post Politics on the appointment with Sen. Black; see Mary Mancini's comment.
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