"Special Rights" argument comes from the Religious Right's attempts to divide minorities on ballot measures

Maybe everyone else knew this, but I didn't until I started reading Gay Rights at the Ballot Box by Amy L. Stone, an assistant professor of sociology at Trinity University.  Basically the argument we so

frequently hear about equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people being "special rights" came from the Religious Right's efforts to divide minority communities during the Right's earlier wave of anti-equality ballot measures.

Here's what Stone says:

Part of this secular argument about 'special rights' was a new image of the Religious Right as supportive of civil rights for 'deserving' minorities such as African Americans but opposed to 'undeserving' minorities such as LGBT activists. The anti-gay Right used special rights political messaging to divide potential allies by exacerbating existing tensions about race and class in LGBT politics. Through this messaging, the Right reaffirms gayness as whiteness, creating divisions between a presumed white LGBT movement and the presumed heterosexual African American community.

It does seem pretty consistent with the playbook, though the language of special rights is now also used to justify majority rejection of equality legislation.  Both the special rights language and the tactic of dividing minorities are items to watch as the ballot measure campaign to overturn the partner benefits and non-discrimination ordinance in Chattanooga gets underway.   

Times Free Press writes glowing piece on reparative therapy

Geesh, I hope they got paid to write this. I just love how they describe mainstream psychological practice as "traditional." There is no proof that reparative therapy works. Furthermore, it is harmful to individuals and to the GLBT community as a whole because it bolsters a weak argument that people can and should change their sexuality.

The problem is not someone's sexuality. The problem is legal discrimination and social intolerance that conspire to keep people in the closet or pressure them to be something they aren't.

I know people who tried to "pray the gay away" and endure years of bizarre "therapies." They wanted it to work. They tried to be straight. It failed. These efforts to change sometimes lead to suicide because as time goes on and nothing works, people become hopeless.

Tennessee Valley Pride wraps up

A few of us went to Chattanooga today to work the TEP/Out & About table at Tennessee Valley Pride's festival finale in Miller Plaza downtown. The turnout was great. The gamble of moving the event from an out-of-the-way park to a public venue paid off. The attendance was somewhere between 400 and 500 people.

They gave us a few minutes to speak about the hospital visitation bill that we're planning to introduce in the Legislature in January. It struck a chord. Dozens came to sign up for our mailing list and some shared stories of being denied visitation. I think Chattanooga legislators are going to be hearing from their constituents this winter.

See Out & About Newspaper's coverage here.

Chattanooga hate crimes vigil recalls victims, urges passage of Matthew Shepard Act

This evening Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition President Marisa Richmond and I observed the 10th anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death by making the trip to Chattanooga for the annual hate crimes vigil, which is one of the opening events of Tennessee Valley Pride. Several of the recent Tennessee hate crimes involving members of Tennessee's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community were remembered. Speakers urged Chattanoogans to do more to persuade Tennessee's congressional delegation, especially former Chattanooga Mayor and current Senator Bob Corker, to be more supportive of the Matthew Shepard Act. At the end of the event, the crowd drew close to share their hopes for working together to make all citizens of our State safe from bias-motivated violence and finally extinguished their candles.

The vigil was an important step in breaking the isolation that members of our community often feel outside Memphis, Knoxville, and Nashville. This isolation is a major obstacle to greater advocacy for equality.

Will Troopergate help McCain-Palin?

That's what Wendell Moore told Hamilton County Republicans yesterday.

“It maybe helps us,” Wendell Moore, former chief of staff for Republican Gov. Don Sundquist who now works for Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., told the Hamilton County Pachyderm Club at its Monday meeting.

Information about Walt Monegan, the public safety commissioner fired by Alaska Gov. Palin, shows he deserved to be fired, Mr. Moore told the Republican group. The McCain campaign has argued that Mr. Monegan was insubordinate.

I think it depends. If the stories focus on the McCain campaign inhibiting the investigation, then it's a negative. It's harder to argue that Palin is the victim in that scenario. But if the stories continue to come back to Palin's former brother-in-law, then it's a positive for the campaign. Whatever Sarah Palin did or didn't do to the commissioner, the public won't care nearly as much if the interview with her former brother in law airs over and over.

Reactions to the Noose

Yolanda Putnam gives us a sample of some of the community reactions to the second noose found a Blue Cross Blue Shield building site in Chattanooga.

...the city’s Office of Multicultural Affairs is launching a marketing campaign to advertise its discrimination hot line. “This type of demonstration will not be tolerated,” said Multicultural Affairs board member Norma Hansen at the group’s monthly meeting Wednesday.

But the office is doing even more:

The group also is establishing a citywide policy for responding to hate crimes, and it has been conducting events such as the Sweet Diversity neighborhood meetings that celebrate ethnic differences. “If you plant hatred, those weeds will attempt to drown out the good seeds,” Ms. Hansen said. “We want to plant seeds of harmony and respect throughout the community.”

Blue Cross Blue Shield has also spoken out in a memo to employees:

“Blue Cross BlueShield of Tennessee will not stand for this behavior,” wrote President and CEO Vicky Gregg in an e-mail to employees this week. “BCBST has a proud history of diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age or faith.”

These responses are extremely positive. They indicate that hate crimes must be taken seriously by the entire community. It is also encouraging that government and a major corporation are taking the lead. Some might consider a couple of nooses a joke, but they should be construed as a threat of violence based on bias.

Another noose found at Blue Cross Blue Shield building site

Noose number 2 has been found by construction workers at a Blue Cross Blue Shield in Chattanooga. The FBI continues to investigate. The construction company is attempting to deal with the situation.

Skanska, the company in charge of the construction project, is offering diversity and sensitivity training. So far, said John Reyhan, general manager for the project, morale has not been affected.

“We’ve added a tremendous amount of security at the site,” Mr. Reyhan said. “And at our jobwide meeting every morning we are encouraging anyone to come forward with any reports of intimidation.”

No one is speculating about the motive. I wondered in my last post about the subject whether the crew were being targeted. We don't have any information about the racial and ethnic makeup of the workers. It's interesting that the construction company is offering sensitivity training. Does that mean that they're not ruling out the possibility that someone on the crew is involved?

What to do with your war chest when the battle's over

Matt Wilson looks into what former State Sen. Ward Crutchfield (D-Chattanooga) is doing with his campaign fund.

No money other than about $2,000 in interest has been added to his campaign funds in the year since he pleaded guilty, records show.

Over that time, Mr. Crutchfield has used some of the funds for campaign contributions to Hamilton County Board of Education members Debra Matthews and Janice Boydston, as well as state Reps. Joanne Favors and Tommie Brown, both D-Chattanooga. His campaign contributions totaled $1,000, according to records.

The piece retains a neutral tone, carefully noting what kinds of contributions from political committees are permitted and which are not.

Rep. Joanne Favors stands by the former senator, who was brought down in the Tennessee Waltz sting, in her comments.

Rep. Favors said she saw no problem with accepting the $250 contribution, though she did not ask for the money. “It was done openly,” she said. “I still consider Sen. Crutchfield a friend of mine.”

Other recipients are less flattering: Marilyn Harrison, vice president of Allied Arts, said she was not familiar with the contribution. She said many donors support Allied Arts.

I think that response is pretty bad. Granted, it's an awkward thing to have to explain. But what message does it send to donors when you say, "Gee, I don't know. Lots of people give"? If someone with a nonprofit is asked and decides to comment, it might be best to check the database or send the reporter a copy of your donor report for the year in question. Or maybe it might be best not to discuss donors at all. But to take the money and comment that there are just so many supporters says individual contributions don't matter. I guess her organization won't be seeing much more of the $166,000 that remains in Sen. Crutchfield's account. It's a shame, too, because that would be a great use for the money. Kicking a man when he is trying to redeem himself is a lost opportunity.

Noose found at Chattanooga Blue Cross Blue Shield site

A noose has been discovered at a Chattanooga Blue Cross Blue Shield workplace in Chattanooga. The FBI is investigating the incident and trying to determine whether it constitutes a hate crime. It occurred the same day four workers became ill, but so far the noose and the illnesses don't appear related.

The story mentions that it is a building site and that employees of Skanska, a construction firm with a presence in Nashville, had been there and were to report back for work on Monday. Even though the illnesses don't seem to be related to the noose, I wonder whether the crew was targeted.

It has been a tough summer for hate issues in Tennessee. In June, there was a cross burning in Scott County. Revelations of a February police beating of a transgender woman in Memphis came to light in June, closely followed by the murder of a transgender woman in July in the same city. And just two weeks ago what should have been a peaceful Sunday was ruptured by the attack at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.

The Germans aren't the only ones coming to Chattanooga

The Latino population is growing quickly in the Chattanooga area:

According to 2007 population estimates released this morning, the Hispanic population of Hamilton County and the surrounding 20 counties has grown almost 60 percent since 2000, compared to 5 percent growth in non-Hispanic groups.

Here's how the region is adapting:

Responding to that trend, Erlanger [Health System] has introduced bilingual patient guides, patient’s rights forms and elevator signs, as well as adding interpreters to the staff, she said.

Other organizations and institutions are addressing the Hispanic growth as well, according to Ms. [Mirtha] Jones [director of Plaza Comunitaria].

“Nearly everywhere you go the signs are bilingual,” she said. “It’s more visible than it was five years ago.”

Dr. [Douglas] Bachtel [a demographer at the University of Georgia] said churches, public safety departments and businesses eventually must take notice of growing Hispanic populations. Law enforcement agencies across the South are recruiting Spanish-speaking officers, and many churches offer Spanish services or ministries, he said.

No mention of English-only ballot measures.

Freshman hazing

The Chattanooga Times Free Press chronicles the learning curve of first-time members of the Tennessee General Assembly.

Weeks after his arrival in Nashville, Sen. [Andy] Berke [D-Chattanooga] found himself on “NBC Nightly News,” Fox News and quoted in several national publications because of Georgia lawmakers’ efforts to move Georgia’s state line a mile north into Tennessee. The intent was to gain access to the water in Nickajack Lake, which is in Sen. Berke’s district.

“I was in the (media) ‘feeding frenzy’ and that was certainly an unusual situation to find yourself in your first weeks of your first session,” said Sen. Berke, who shepherded through the Senate a resolution rejecting Georgia’s call for a boundary commission to revisit the long-disputed border.

Cousteau fils says Tennesseans are polluting the Gulf of Mexico

Jean-Michel Cousteau was speaking at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga and took a moment to talk to the Tennessean about our state's impact on the ocean's ecology.

“There is runoff of heavy metals and chemicals and we’re overfishing the ocean,” he added. A U.S. Geological Survey report recently linked Tennessee and eight other states to a “dead zone” — up to a 7,000-square-mile area in the northern Gulf of Mexico around the U.S., where most marine life can’t live because of the lack of what’s called dissolved oxygen in the water.

Young candidate drops out

23-year old Kevin Burke has dropped out of the Hamilton County school board race, leaving two candidates for the District 7 spot.

“I’d be great at it, and I have a good chance to win, but the timing isn’t right,” he said.

He cited school and work responsibilities as the deciding factor.

Politics with a side of fries

The Chattanooga Times Free Press surveys the connection between restaurants and political meetings in the area.

“This is business,” said Ed Hearn, owner of the downtown Tallan Cellar, the restaurant where the Democratic JFK Club meets each month. “I’ll take anybody who wants to come in.”

The "transplant" candidate

Profile of Gregg Juster, who is running for Hamilton County Board of Education.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/apr/15/chattanooga-transplant-runs-school-board-post/

A candidate with style

Stylist Rhonda Thurman is running unopposed for the Hamilton County school board. She is profiled here: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/apr/12/thurman-runs-unopposed-school-board/

Profile of Joe Dumas

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/apr/11/dumas-looks-change-county-school-board/

Dr. Dumas is a candidate for Hamilton County school board.

Profile of Linda Mosely, candidate for Hamilton Co school board

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/apr/05/mosley-run-school-board/

Piece includes a full list of candidates a thorough profile of Ms. Mosely.

Southeast TN voters satisfied?

They must be, says the Chattanooga Times Free Press, because there aren't many challengers in this year's contests. See the list of candidates in the area here: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/apr/04/many-southeast-tennessee-races-not-contested/

Blunder favors Favors

Stuart James ended up not qualifying to run against Rep. Joanne Favors (D-Chattanooga) in the Democratic primary. He used photocopies as part of his petition and that's against the rules.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/apr/03/incorrect-petition-disqualifies-james-state-house-/