The Leadership Vacuum and "Trickle Down" violence against GLBT people

I'm noticing that more commentators are starting to explore the connection between anti-equality rhetoric in the political sphere and the notable cases of GLBT youth suicides due to bullying.

Take this passage from a post at Americablog by Gabriel Arana:

"The real charge is that anti-gay rhetoric in politics has a trickle-down effect that reinforces the type of anti-gay attitudes that make life tough for gay teens. The connection between the work of the National Organization for Marriage and the culture of homophobia that prevails in schools is much less direct, but it exists."

In other words, the aim of anti-equality rhetoric in politics is directly to impede law and policy that would advance civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people; it is not to promote physical violence against us. But physical violence against our community exists and it is worthy of asking whether anti-equality rhetoric in politics is one cause.

So let's look at the situation in Tennessee.

*Vonore, TN fire: I'm not aware of any high-ranking elected official in Tennessee who either uttered words of comfort to Stutte family who recently lost their home to anti-gay arson or made any public condemnation of this violent act. As far as I know, the last time any public official condemned violence that involved our community was when Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam made these remarks about the shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church:

"It is often easy to make these tragic events, which are far too frequent, about the community in which they occur. Knoxville is a caring, compassionate city where diverse viewpoints are shared and respected. Every person, regardless of race, religion, age, sex, or sexual orientation is a person of human dignity and a valued member of our community."

He was prompted to do that, but at least he did it. Others condemned the shooting, but didn't mention our community.

*Lack of positive discourse: Apart from some members of the Memphis City Council, the Shelby County Commission, members of the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County, a few state legislators and local school board members, you won't find many elected officials having anything positive to say about legislation that promotes equality in our state. With the exception of Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, you won't find anyone in the executive branch of government who is openly supportive.

Instead what you're more likely to find are remarks like these from Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey:

“Tennessee has a direct interest in the outcome of this case,” said Lt. Governor Ramsey. “If upheld, it will be used to allow same-sex marriage in Tennessee. Over 80% of Tennessee voters chose to define marriage in our constitution as the union of one man and one woman. Tennessee has an important interest in protecting the ability of our state to define marriage and I strongly urge Attorney General Cooper to join other states fighting for that same right.”

I'd say that Tennessee GLBT and questioning youth are at particular risk because most of the public discussion they hear about themselves from leaders in their communities is of a very similar negative variety. It means their straight peers are absorbing it with the idea that there's something wrong with the GLBT kids. That's a short leap to bullying. We need more community and political leaders to speak out in specific ways for our state's GLBT community.

With particular attention to the Don't Say Gay bill: I shouldn't have to mention it, but I'm going to because it bears most directly upon the issue of bullying GLBT youth--Rep. Stacey Campfield's Don't Say Gay bill. Do I think Rep. Campfield wants youth to take their lives or to be bullied? No, I don't. But I do think his ideology about sexuality and gender makes him utterly and dangerously oblivous to the situation youth find themselves in. And it blinds him to the need for specific protections against the violence they face as well as the specific affirmation they need to overcome the despair that can drive them to take their lives.

Watch these videos again and reflect upon them in light of the youth who have taken their lives. Do I have to hit you over the head with the question: "How long are we going to tolerate legislation like this? When are we going to put this awful bill out of its misery and move on to take positive steps to address bullying and its very specific victims?"

-Chris Sanders

Thank you, Tennessee

It's my last day as chairman of the board of the Tennessee Equality Project, a position I've held for four years. The thank-yous and the good-byes I say are hardly final since I'll continue to serve as chair of the TEP Nashville Committee and on the board of TEP PAC, our state political action committee. But it will be quite a change not worrying every day about what's going on in Bristol, Memphis, Gallatin, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Cleveland, Jackson, Murfreesboro, and on and on. Habits of worry are hard to break, but mine will be considerably easier given the new officers and all the county chairs who lead our organization around the state.

Besides the biggies like the Metro non-discrimination ordinance signing pictured in the upper right or debating David Fowler and Stacey Campfield on television, here are a few things that come back to me about the last four years:

(Find the rest here)

-Chris Sanders

Congratulations to TEP's new officers

Today at our annual meeting, the new board of the Tennessee Equality Project elected our officers whose terms will begin July 1.

I will continue to serve as chairman with a focus on state policy and our work toward a Metro non-discrimination ordinance.

H.G. Stovall, formerly membership chair, has been elected president and will direct the statewide effort to build support for all aspects of our lobbying efforts.

Stephen Henry will continue as vice president and continue to have an important role in policy around education issues as well as board development.

Wes Aull, CPA of Rowan Financial, will serve as treasurer.

Jonathan Cole, chair of our Shelby County Committee, will serve as secretary.

LaToya Belgrave, vice chair of our Shelby County Committee, will serve as the at-large board member on our executive committee.

It's a very strong executive team with substantial talents and the election acknowledges the significant role that Shelby County plays in our statewide efforts.

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.

Term limits, leadership, and unpopular decisions

For some reason, I find myself puzzling over the Jackson Sun's editorial pages more than any other in the state, perhaps because they deal with issues and take sides. Today they are touting a proposal for term limits that would apply to the Mayor and City Council of Jackson. In essence, they are arguing that the voters should have the chance to decide whether they want term limits.

Strictly speaking, their stance to let the voters decide doesn't contradict the idea that the absence of term limits helps create statesmen and women who can develop a bank of credibility and good will. Having been reelected in some cases many times, they are occasionally free to make unpopular decisions without fear of voter retribution. The Sun praised the non-term-limited House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh (D-Covington) here for his willingness to do so in the case of a gun bill.