I’m not sure who coined the phrase, “Anything worth having is worth fighting for”, but it seems to be an apt phrase for the LGBT community in Nashville, Tennessee. This past Tuesday night, in a 24 to 15 vote, the Nashville Metro Council passed a measure that will keep city and county employees from being discriminated against due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. It was a long time coming as the measure was first introduced in 2003. As with anything controversial, there is always opposition and anti-discrimination rights for LGBT folks found theirs in the form of evangelicals and conservatives. The measure was defeated with a tie-breaking vote against the measure by then Vice Mayor.
I love to laugh and while reading the news article, I was given a chance to have a nice little chuckle thanks in part to the local chapters of the Family Action Council and Eagle Forum. Both started an email campaign meant to play on the fears and dislikes of anyone or anything not considered normal or mainstream. They warned that the ordinance would force people to use public courthouse rest rooms in which cross dressers would also use. And here I thought that the main reason to use the rest room was to relieve a biological need-- not to socialize. I’m pretty sure that in every rest room I’ve used, there are these things called stalls in which you have a semblance of privacy. If you’re that afraid to use the rest room because a "cross dresser" may have this insane need to utilize the facility as it was intended then might I suggest you hold it until you get home?
Just when I thought the article was getting more interesting, I read something that had my temper flaring. It seems that Council member Jim Hodge has the perfect solution for any discrimination that LGBT encounter. He says that any gays or lesbians should simply stop being gay or lesbian. This guy was really elected to a Council with that kind of mindset? I’m totally dumbfounded that such a stupid statement could ever come out of somebody’s mouth no matter how ill-informed he or she is.
However, I digress. The important thing is that the vote is a positive step in the right direction for equal rights for the LGBT community in Tennessee. Councilwoman Megan Barry was the main sponsor of the bill. “I believe that all employees deserve protection, and it’s my responsibility as a council member to make sure that happens,” she said. We need more Council members like her. Equal rights and anti-discrimination policies should be for everyone not just a select few.
Nashville Mayor Karl Dean had previously promised to sign the bill if it was passed.
Check out the article here.
Give me music to my ears. I don't hear it.
Posted by: celebrity videos | December 24, 2009 at 01:00 AM