Newspapers: Our last line of defense in Tennessee?

Tennessee newspapers have been full of stories and comment on equality issues lately.  Today's Tennessean devotes its editorial section to Vanderbilt University applying its non-discrimination policy to all student clubs and organizations.  Yesterday's Knoxville News Sentinel contains a column about civility in public discourse with a slap at the Don't Say Gay bill.  The day before the paper featured a story on East Tennessee native Bleu Copas considering rejoining the Army in the wake of Don't Ask, Don't Tell's repeal. And the day before that, the Tennessean took a look at the statistics and stories of the growth in the number of same-sex couples in Tennessee. 

That level of coverage and positive editorial comment has become business as usual for Tennessee's four largest newspapers for 2011. 

Why?  For a few years now the editorial perspective of these papers has been supportive of equality for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. It seems that the state's four big dailies are doing their best to keep up with the public policy and cultural debates on equality that are heating up in Tennessee.  That level of coverage is welcome.  At a time when the Legislature has gone on the attack against equality, the four dailies are one of the last lines of defense against a crushing socially conservative agenda. It may be that their advocacy mirrors one of the most important developments in coalition-building our community has seen this year, namely, Tennessee's four largest cities taking a stand against HB600.  Of course, one could argue that the city governments are just beginning to catch up to their newspapers in this respect.

Their readership may be falling off and they are going through tough times financially, but we can't ignore the fact that despite these challenges Tennessee's big newspapers continue to step up and defend our community.

County newspapers:  Not all is well in journalism land with respect to equality issues.  County newspapers around the state continue to ignore equality issues for the most part while publishing the socially conservative line in the form of weekly Bible columns and the like.  I've noted many times the complete failure of the Lebanon Democrat to cover the role that Sen. Beavers played in passing SB632/HB600 that nullified Metro Nashville's contractor non-discrimination ordinance.  More recently the Shelbyville Times-Gazette ignored a request to cover the census data that indicates a significant increase in same-sex couples in that Middle Tennessee town.  Still, there are bright spots like the Crossville Chronicle that publishes letters to the editor and stories on the GLBT community without bias.  But there's a lot of work to do in getting many county newspapers up to speed.  It's a critical need because a significant portion of the state's population looks to these papers for news and perspective to shape or reflect its views. 

We can't advance equality in Tennessee if the rural/urban divide persists.  We also can't leave rural and suburban gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people defenseless in their own communities.  It's a strong challenge for our commitments as activists.

-Chris Sanders

TN newspapers knock Governor, Legislature over discriminatory law for 2nd week

If Tennessee Republican leaders were expecting a quiet Memorial Day weekend, they woke up to Sunday papers around the state filled with criticism of their work on SB632/HB600, the Special Access to Discriminate law. The measure nullifies the Nashville Contract Accountability Non-Discrimination Ordinance passed in April, prevents any city or county from adopting a similar law, and redefines "sex" in the Tennessee Code to the detriment of transgender people.

Under the Influence: The Commercial Appeal's Wendi Thomas bestowed her first "On the Pipe," as in crack pipe, awards for a number of bills, but the Special Access to Discriminate law was first in her list:

"The Equal Access to Intrastate Commerce law, which forbids local governments from ensuring that their contractors don't discriminate against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered employees. Yep, the legislature has decided that it should be up to businesses to decide who they discriminate against. Sounds like a lovely idea."

Nimble Lobbying: Letting businesses decide may prove tricky, as the Knoxville News Sentinel's Tom Humphrey, noted in his own awards presentation when he took a swipe at the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce for changing their position on the law:

Most Remarkable Lobbying Acrobatic Performance: To the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry for its amazing backflip on HB600, the bill that overrode a Nashville city ordinance prohibiting discrimination by city contractors based on sexual orientation. The chamber backed the bill as business friendly, then - after it had passed - reversed its position and declared its opposition "because (the bill) has turned into a debate on diversity and inclusiveness, principles which we support."

Governor Unmoved: Despite the reversal of the TN Chamber, Governor Haslam nevertheless signed the bill, as noted by The Tennessean's Chas Sisk, leaving the new act without much rationale other than putting discrimination into the law:

But since the General Assembly adjourned, Haslam and the legislature have been criticized by major businesses and gay rights groups from across the country for a law that reverses a Nashville ordinance requiring city contractors to follow the city’s anti-discrimination rules, which protect gay, lesbian and transgendered people. Haslam signed the measure nonetheless, saying the campaign against the bill came too late. “You had a chance to engage in this during the legislative process,” Haslam said of a public push to see him veto the bill. “To kind of change tracks on Monday felt a little late to me.”

Well, you're not the only one, Governor Haslam. The problem is that the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community got stuck with the effects of the law, and you're stuck going down in history as supporting it. It's no fun being left holding the bag, is it?

The Impact: Perhaps the most trenchant criticism came in Josh Flory's piece in the Knoxville News Sentinel in which he quotes a Scripps Network Interactive executive saying the law will scare away the talented workforce he needs:

"Its passage will impede our ability to recruit and retain the best possible work force," company President John Lansing said in a statement. "Most significantly, this legislation sends a signal that Tennessee is unwilling to take a stand against an intolerant employment environment."

Dang! Can it get any worse? Yes, it can.

Hometown paper pounds final nail: When the Governor's hometown paper uses the Scripps story as the basis for yet another editorial (the Knoxville News Sentinel had already editorialized about the bill last week in addition to Pam Strickland's biting column), then you know it's bad. "Codifying intolerance hurts state business" is a title that tells the whole tale. The last paragraph of today's editorial is the best:

"Haslam needs to show more leadership by condemning, rather than signing, such narrow-minded legislation. Passing laws that codify intolerance - and run counter to the policies of many Tennessee companies - could chase away jobs, talented workers and tourists. Tennessee isn't an island; the state participates in the global economy, one that offers as much diversity as it does opportunity. The state's leaders must promote tolerance of that diversity to compete for 21st century jobs and succeed in the marketplace."

What does that kind of leadership look like?: Leadership from the Governor and the Legislature could take a number of constructive paths. Examples include (a) heading off discriminatory legislation in the coming year, (b) backing Sen. Jim Kyle's appropriately numbered SB2121 (as in 21st century!) to repeal the Special Access to Discriminate law, or even (c) backing a bill to amend Tennessee human rights law to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in employment. These are all good options that would concretely help people who experience discrimination and more broadly do much to repair Tennessee's severely tarnished image.

-Chris Sanders

NYT against Arkansas adoption ban

The New York Times editorializes against the recently passed Arkansas adoption ban:

The new law is undeniably discriminatory. Under Arkansas law, people convicted of major crimes, including contributing to the delinquency of a minor, remain eligible to adopt children or become foster parents. Single people who have no partner — or who have a large number of casual sex partners — are also eligible. Anyone who is in a committed relationship, gay or straight, but is not married is automatically barred.

The new law also interferes with the Department of Human Services’ ability to do its job of making individualized assessments of prospective parents and placing children in the homes that are best able to meet their needs. As the W.H. case suggests, an unmarried couple could be the most qualified parents. And because of the shortage of foster parents, the ban is very likely to make children wait substantially longer for a loving home.

Many of us in Tennessee will watch developments in the Arkansas case with hope that it can be overturned. We are also watching the Legislature in the coming days to see whether another adoption ban appears.

Just your friendly neighborhood, non-partisan paper

"We're not conservative or liberal; we are local," says the Jackson Sun's Steve Coffman:

So that's why I'm confused when I hear people talk about "that liberal Jackson Sun." Upon careful review, it just doesn't stick.

What concerns me when I hear such statements is that they sometimes appear to be fueled by talk show hosts who make their living dividing and classifying Americans as one thing or another, for us or against us. I don't know about you, but I don't fit neatly into any of those classifications. I hold some views that many would consider liberal. I hold others that many would consider conservative. Please don't paint me, and please don't paint this newspaper with one brush before you use your own head to make an informed decision, rather than applying some talk show act's stereotypes.

After all, most of the issues we at The Jackson Sun take a stand on involve things going on right here in West Tennessee. They are neither Republican nor Democrat, liberal nor conservative. They are local. And we are a local newspaper.