Knoxville City Attorney Ok’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance; Opinion Instructive for Memphis Non-Discrimination Ordinance

From the desk of Councilman Lee Harris:

"There is nothing in [the Knoxville] Charter
which we find to be a definitive and
exclusive list of discriminatory practices."
- Deputy Law Director Ronald E. Mills 

Other Tennessee cities have begun to voice opinions regarding Non-Discrimination. Specifically, in response to inquiry from elected officials in Memphis, the Knoxville City Attorney has opined that their city’s non-discrimination ordinance does not conflict with their Charter. According to the attorney’s opinion, “revisions to various sections of the Knoxville City Code regarding discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and other factors…do not in any way violate the Knoxville City Charter”. The opinion goes on to say that “there is nothing in [the Knoxville] Charter which we find to be a definitive and exclusive list of discriminatory practices.” A copy of the Knoxville Opinion is attached to this release.

Said County Commissioner Steve Mulroy: “I thought it prudent to check with another big Tennessee city and see how they were able to do it.  Their opinion is instructive.  Their charter and ordinance are virtually identical.  Indeed, the argument that the City Council has authority under the charter is even stronger in Memphis."  Said Councilman Lee Harris: “Knoxville, which is hardly a redoubt of the liberal fringe, is way out in front of Memphis. This city has some serious catching up to do. The Knoxville opinion reminds us that there is nothing serious standing in our way. It’s hard to move city government.  But, other cities have done it and, with any luck, this opinion helps resolve that is no serious reason why we can’t.” Said Jonathan Cole, a leader of the Tennessee Equality Project: “Given the willingness of sister cities to go out a limb and get involved, I’m increasingly confident that nothing can stop us. I am increasingly confident that there are no barriers to adding non-merit factors to the City of Memphis non-discrimination ordinance.”

Councilman Lee Harris: "The Knoxville opinion reminds us
that there is nothing serious standing in our way."

For background, on Tuesday, September 18, Memphis City Councilmen Lee Harris and Shea Flinn sponsored a non-discrimination ordinance that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Discussion ensued over whether the ordinance was permissible under the City of Memphis Charter. Final approval of the ordinance was delayed until Oct. 16. The ordinance, if approved on Oct. 16, provides as follows: “There shall be no discrimination in city employment of personnel because of religion, race, sex, creed, political affiliation, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation or other non-merit factors, nor shall there by any discrimination in the promotion or demotion of city employees because of religion, race, sex, creed, political affiliation, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability or other non-merit factors.” A copy of the Non-Discrimination Ordinance is attached. The Knoxville City Charter provides: “No elected official administrator, director, or employee of Knox County shall discriminate against any person in employment or provision of services based upon race, sex, religion, age or nationality without due process of law.” The Memphis City Charter provides: “[T]here shall be no discrimination in the city employment of personnel because of religion, race, sex, creed, political affiliation, or other non-merit factors, nor shall be there any discrimination in the promotion or demotion of city employees because of religion, race, sex creed, political affiliation, or other non-merit factors.” A copy of the relevant portions of the Knoxville Ordinance is attached to this release.

Councilman Lee Harris can be reached at 901-210-4429. Commissioner Steve Mulroy can be reached at 901-603-8779. TEP representative Jonathan Cole can be reached at 901-301-3306.

Club XYZ in Knoxville target of "suspicious" fire

Club XYZ, a gay bar in Knoxville, TN, was set on fire early Sunday morning. Knoxville Fire Department Capt. D.J. Corcoran characterized the fire as suspicious without saying why.

Suspicion is certainly warranted since this fire follows the terrible blaze that destroyed the Stutte family home less than 40 miles away in Vonore, TN. Arsonists who set fire to the Stutte home spraypainted "queers" on the side of their garage leading many to characterize the heinous act as an anti-gay hate crime.

It's still too early to tell if the fire at Club XYZ is a hate crime. Call the Knoxville Fire and Explosion Unit 865-637-1386 if you have information about a possible cause for the fire.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist: One Year Later

Monday is the one-year anniversary of a dark moment in our state's history--the horrible shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist. Reading last year's post, I can recall the feelings as I opened my inbox and saw the email from a friend in Knoxville bearing the news. The killings, the injuries, and the horror of the survivors made the world focus on a congregation in Knoxville, Tennessee. We got hints early in the aftermath that the attack was motivated in part by the fact that the congregation is accepting of GLBT people and its liberalism.

TEP members across the state were anguished about the attack and we continue to be in awe of the resiliance of the congregation.

The Sunday Knoxville News Sentinel takes a look at the TVUU a year later. We'll give John Bohstedt, who is interviewed in the piece, the last word on the anniversary of the tragedy:

Bohstedt, a retired University of Tennessee history professor, said his church appears to have emerged from the ordeal as a stronger community. But don't talk to Bohstedt about seeking or achieving closure. He doesn't believe in such a thing.

"That's a particularly toxic myth," he said. "You learn how to go on and how to appreciate what you've got ... but it's not at all about closure, because things are never the same."

Bohstedt doesn't have an answer about what should be done with Adkisson.

"I think that a person who could come to that place where he was, shows there is real evil in the world in the shape of human beings.

"I don't think he was mentally ill in any normal sense of the word. I'm not even sure he's redeemable. He had been working on this bad streak for 58 years. He had it pretty well developed."

Bohstedt, however, describes himself as an "incurable optimist" and prefers to focus on how the congregation and other churches came together after the shooting.

"I think we've discovered strength we didn't know we had," he said. "We have found out how much our bonds of supporting each other in love mean. You know how crucial that is, to keep our life going both individually and as a community."

Tennessee GLBT community preparing for 5th annual Advancing Equality Day on the Hill

This weekend equality advocates at opposite ends of the state prepared for the 5th annual Advancing Equality Day on the Hill, the Tennessee GLBT community's annual lobby day in Nashville. This year the event takes place on Feb. 17.

TEP Shelby County Vice Chair Latoya Belgrave and Chair Jonathan Cole welcomed Memphians on Saturday to Lobbying 101 at the University of Memphis Law School. The class provides basic information for citizens as they prepare to speak with legislators about GLBT issues.

Today in Knoxville, about 20 members of the community gathered at the Metropolitan Community Church of Knoxville for their Lobbying 101 event organized by TEP Knox County Chair Todd Cramer (third from the left).

Similar events had already taken place in Chattanooga, Murfreesboro, and the Tri-Cities. Another Lobbying 101 is scheduled for this Tuesday for the Vanderbilt community. For more information, check out the Facebook page for the event.

To RSVP for Advancing Equality Day on the Hill, click here.

Knoxville Church shooting top 2008 story in Knoxville News Sentinel

See the list here.

The eyes of the nation turned to Knoxville when a warm Sunday morning in July was disrupted by three shotgun blasts in a church along Kingston Pike near the University of Tennessee campus.

Unemployed truck driver Jim David Adkisson, police allege, pulled a 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun from a guitar case he carried into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. More than 200 people were crammed into the church at 2931 Kingston Pike for a special presentation of the children's musical "Annie Jr."

Two people were killed and six others were wounded in the 10:18 a.m. July 27 rampage.

Police said the 58-year-old Adkisson planned to continue shooting the sawed-off shotgun with the 76 shells he carried until he was killed by responding officers. Those plans were thwarted when several church members overpowered Adkisson as he reloaded the shotgun. They held him until police arrived.

Police said Adkisson targeted the church because his ex-wife had worshipped there and the church supported gay rights.

He is being held in jail in lieu of $1 million bond awaiting a March trial.

Open seat on the Knox County Commission

From the Knoxville News Sentinel:

The Knox County Commission voted Monday to go forward with appointing a replacement for ousted Commissioner Scott Moore.

The panel will accept resumes for Moore's former seat through Dec. 31, hold a public forum in Halls in mid-January, and vote at the monthly commission meeting Jan. 26, when candidates also will have an opportunity to make their case.

Moore gave up his right to hold office when Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood ruled Oct. 14 that he lied under oath during testimony in 2007 about violating the state Open Meetings Act.

The County Commission has been a mess for quite some time. It will take a reformer with patience not to get drawn into all the legislative body's drama. It will also take someone who is willing to come in under a cloud of uncertainty. Moore could win an appeal and his seat.

"This body is required to act within 120 days to fill the vacancy," [Law Director Bill] Lockett said, adding that the deadline is Feb. 12. Lockett explained that under the law Moore could regain his seat immediately if he wins his appeal, which is scheduled for oral arguments in January.

Big opening for Milk in Knoxville

Milk, the film that portrays the life of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk starring Sean Penn, opened to a large audience in Knoxville on Sunday afternoon. Todd Cramer of the TEP Knox County Committee and Knoxville Human Rights Group and Robbie Arrington of the Regal Entertainment Group (pictured above) organized the event. A packed theatre watched the film and stayed for a discussion. Among those attending were Knoxville City Council members Bob Frost and Bob Becker as well as State Rep. Harry Tindell. Becker talked about running for office and encouraged those in attendance to consider a run for Council. Seats will become open since members are term limited. He indicated he thought a candidate who is out can be elected in the City of Knoxville.

Special screening and discussion of Milk in Knoxville on Dec. 14

The TEP Knox County Committee and Human Rights Group have arranged a special showing and discussion of Milk on Sunday, December 14 at 12:30 p.m. at the Regal Downtown West Cinema 8. Milk, the story of openly gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, opens nationwide in December. Starring Sean Penn, the film comes at a time when new activism is emerging in the wake of the passage of California's Proposition 8.

Ticket information here.

Knoxville Prop 8 Rally is on!

Knoxville is joining cities around the country in solidarity with those in California whose right to marry is being threatened.


The TEP Knox County Committee/Human Rights Group is organizing the event. It takes place at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time at the World's Fair Park lawn.


Find details here.

Knox County: Red with some big blue streaks

Metro Pulse maps Democrats and Republicans in Knox County.

Knox County as a whole always goes Republican in presidential races. By the parlance of Bush-era political analysts, it’s red, a dutiful contributor to a red state.

However, the red wash obscures deeper complexity. It’s just as predictable—though less obvious, because we have to add up the tallies from political precincts to get it—that in presidential races, the City of Knoxville usually goes Democratic.

Bill Moyers looks at Knoxville Church shooting

Sorry to say, but I missed the Bill Moyers Journal take on the tragic July shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. The Church's minister, the Rev. Chris Buice, is featured on the program. The discussion focused on the role of talk radio in the degeneration of America's political discourse.

JEFFREY FELDMAN: Our system is a deliberative democracy. And that deliberative democracy depends on a certain kind of talk, a certain conversation in order to function well. What right-wing rhetoric does, when it reaches that violent pitch, is it undermines that particular conversation, such that the focus of political debate, becomes increasingly hamstrung by fear, and the ability of citizens to engage in the basic act of civics becomes gummed up. That conversation breaks down.

RICK KARR: Knoxville pastor Chris Buice agrees.

REVEREND CHRIS BUICE: When you blame all your problems on some minority group then everyone else is exonerated. We exonerate ourselves. We don't have to look at ourselves to see what sort of ways we contribute to the problems of the world. We don't have to examine ourselves, to see what we are doing that is helping to create the problems that we're so concerned about.

Knoxville busybody taking the "her" away from Ina Fried

A Wikipedia user in Knoxville hiding under the cloak of anonymity is editing the entries of Transgender technology guru Ina Fried. Supposedly, this anonymous editor is a medical student with an emphasis in clinical psychology. I hope there are some good meds for people with control issues. Physician, heal thyself!

Party purge avoided

No, this news is not out of China; we're talking about Knoxville. A 19 year-old district delegate of the Democratic Party is going to be allowed to keep her position after she faced expulsion for appearing at a Republican event.

In an e-mail to the News Sentinel, [Chairwoman Sylvia] Woods wrote that she and 8th District delegate Caroline Hindman have discussed the matter and that Hindman now understands her responsibilities.

Woods added that the people within the party who originally filed the complaint have withdrawn it and also want Hindman to stay and participate. Hindman has faced a possible impeachment, the local Democrats said.

Previously, Woods had criticized Hindman for what Woods saw as a failure to fulfill the duties of the office, compounded by her appearance at the Republican victory party earlier this month.

Even though some of the issue centers around Hindman missing meetings, what propelled the story was the fact that she was being attacked for her appearance at a family friend's victory party. Apparently it caused a lot of shouting at a Knox County Democratic convention on Tuesday.

That's the way to lock up the youth vote!

Tennessee Valley UU Church shooter indicted

Jim David Atkisson, the man accused of opening fire in the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, has been indicted on two charges of first-degree murder, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. The Grand Jury also indicted him on two counts of felony murder and six counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Adkisson may be facing federal charges as well. U.S. Attorney Russ Dedrick is keeping mum, but the FBI is conducting a civil-rights probe, and Dedrick's office has an extensive history of prosecuting civil-rights cases.

Conservatives draw on core values in response to Knoxville Church shooting

Greg Johnson has a thoughtful piece in today's Knoxville News Sentinel that discusses conservative responses to the tragic shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. He notes that many conservatives in East Tennessee have been "jarred" by the apparent anti-liberal motives of the shooter as well as the debate over the influence of prominent conservative authors. Johnson's column is part of the healing process, just as First Baptist Church's decision to host a prayer service for the Knoxville community. Regardless of whether there is agreement about the policy implications of this tragic event, it is helpful to have an honest dialogue that squarely confronts the questions. Johnson does so poignantly. In his own words:

Some prominent East Tennessee conservatives were wrestling with the question when I spoke to them earlier this week. One noted that a core conservative value is the sanctity of human life. Another spoke of the worth of the individual being a fundamental conservative concept. Both spoke of the need for vigorous yet civil and peaceful debate of important issues.

But some conservative commentators, especially those selling books or ad slots on television or radio, go too far to shock and awe. Our culture - from Hollywood to online communities to cable television to talk radio - has coarsened. Too many on both sides of the political aisle have forsaken dialogue and debate for diatribes.

By some accounts, the suspect despised those different from him, be they liberals, blacks or gays. Though the community has started down the road of healing, our differences will remain. Debate will - and should - continue. Regardless of ideology, though, one timeless truth will still apply: "In the essentials, unity. In the nonessentials, liberty. In all things, charity."

Targeting the Liberal Movement and Gays

Jim David Adkisson was targeting the liberal movement in his attack on Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, according to a letter he wrote explaining his motives. It should also be noted that he was having trouble finding a job and recently learned that his food stamps were being cut. WBIR reports that Knoxville Police Chief Owen says that the shooter...

targeted Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church due to "recent publicity" the church had received regarding its "liberal stance" on things.

A sign recently went up at the Church indicating its welcome of the GLBT community.

We'll continue to follow the story.

Update: This headline on a North Carolina paper's story is the first I've seen that indicates hatred of gay people is a motivation.

Update: The Knoxville News Sentinel is now adding gays as Adkisson's targets.

Update: The statement of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition

Church shooting in Knoxville leaves several injured

A friend in Knoxville contacted me about a shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Church this morning. Several have been injured. There aren't many details yet.

This congregation hosts the Spectrum Cafe, which is a welcoming place for GLBT youth. Please, keep the members of this congregation in your thoughts and prayers.

Update: WBIR has several details and a time line of events.

Update 2: The Knoxville News Sentinel story linked above has been updated and reports that Greg McKendry has died from wounds he received when he interposed his body between the shooter and other parishioners. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." The Gospel according to St. John 15:13

Update 3: Out & About Newspaper provides additional information on the ways in which the congregation has been supportive of the GLBT community.

Update 4: The FBI is involved in case the matter turns out to be a hate crime. One parishioner notes that the gunman was yelling "hateful things." (I had seen a report that a second person has died. It is no longer posted. Will try to find out more.)

Update 5: The Knoxville News Sentinel has acknowledged the conflicting information about a second victim and released the name of the shooter as Jim D. Adkisson of Powell. The online story is also the first in the mainstream media to acknowledge the congregation's outreach to the GLBT community. They mention in connection with officers being dispatched to other congregations for security.

[Knoxville Police Chief Sterling] Owen said when authorities learned of the shooting, police officers were sent to other churches to provide security.

"We've gone to some in the county and in other counties as well," Owen said. He declined to identify the churches targeted for additional security, however, the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church was a strong proponent of gay rights in the community.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell's Knoxville connection

Sociologist of military servicemembers' attitudes Charles Moskos has died. Well known for his advice that contributed to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military (if they remain closeted!), Moskos's brother is Harry Moskos, retired editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Moskos himself conceded that Don't Ask, Don't Tell is a highly flawed policy, though perhaps the best available option at the time of passage. However, he continued to defend the policy, arguing that gays and lesbians serving openly would "hurt the morale of the military rank-and-file and make many recruits uncomfortable." I'd say at this point, several other items are higher on the discomfort scale for our troops.

What always struck me about such arguments is that they are supposed to be irrelevant in a military context of command and control. Discipline means following the chain of command. As Moskos himself said in rejoinder to those who were urging the Pentagon to loosen up its restrictions:

"Any change in the status of homosexuals in the military requires congressional action," he wrote in a letter to the editor of The New York Times in 2005. "Your editorial implies that the military should disobey the law. Who is hiding from reality?"

Well said, Professor Moskos. It is up to Congress. And I hope they will remove the restriction on open service altogether. Otherwise, we will continue either to lose talened young men and women who want to serve our country like this former military translator or we will put them in the untenable situation of lying to everyone around them about who they are.

Following the money in Knoxville

The Metro Pulse continues its series on campaign donations coming out of Knoxville.

Tennessee ranks 19th in campaign contributions overall—between North Carolina at 18th and Minnesota at 20th—with $18,084,741 so far.

Out of that, $2,877,028 has come from the Knoxville metropolitan area, the third-ranked metro area in both population and contributions in the state after Nashville ($8,129,919) and Memphis ($2,963,000).

Contributions from within Knox County itself made up $2,117,656 of the region’s total. Of that, 83 percent, or about $1.5 million, has gone to Republican candidates, making it the most staunchly Republican of Tennessee’s three large urban counties.

Knox County Mayor under attack

Citizens are starting a petition to remove Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale. Since the charter doesn't allow them to recall him, they're going to have to file an ouster lawsuit.

[Petition drive leader Charles] Bowers cited three reasons for ousting the mayor from office: Ragsdale's support of a wheel tax, the huge bond issue to pay for the Sheriff's Office pension plan and the audit of purchasing cards in the mayor's office, which shows more than $39,000 in questionable charges by the mayor and top staffers.

One County Commissioner, Victoria DeFreese, says that she's inclined to join the effort.