March
18, 2013
Contact: Chris Sanders
(615) 390-5252
Tennessee Equality Project urging
equality advocates to wear purple to House Education Subcommittee March 19 for
hearings on 3 discriminatory bills and 1 anti-bullying bill
Nashville,
TN—The Tennessee Equality Project (TEP), a statewide organization advocating
equal rights for Tennessee’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community,
is urging equality advocates to attend the House Education Subcommittee meeting
at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday to show opposition to three discriminatory bills and
support for one anti-bullying bill.
The
meeting takes place in HHR 30 in Legislative Plaza. For more information about the event, go the
Facebook event page at www.facebook.com/events/485159184867426/
.
The Legislation
SB514/HB1185—This bill would allow students in counseling,
psychology, and social work programs at Tennessee’s public universities to opt
out of serving certain clients if they have a religious objection. The examples cited by advocates for the bill
and even mentioned during a recent Senate Education Committee hearing focus on
opting out of serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
community. The bill was approved by the
full Senate on March 14.
SB234/HB1332—The new Don’t Say Gay bill, as written, includes
provisions that would require school personnel to out students who come to them
about issues of sexuality and gender. If
the proposed amendment is adopted, the bill would prohibit school personnel
from counseling students on matters other than education and career unless they
are certified in counseling or psychology.
They would have to make a referral to a certified professional, which
would generate a contact with the student’s parents. That would also have the effect of outing the
student.
SB1241/HB1150—The bill is a new version of legislation designed to
punish Vanderbilt University for its inclusive all-comers non-discrimination
policy for student clubs. It threatens
Vanderbilt with removal of its police force.
The harms to public safety embodied in the bill are obvious, as is the
animus toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
SB1241/HB927—The
Dignity for All Students Act would enhance the state’s anti-school bullying
efforts by adding protections enumerating factors such as disability, gender
identity, and sexual orientation since these factors are often the basis for
bullying.
For
more information on the Tennessee Equality Project, go to http://www.tnequalityproject.org .
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