Conservatives demanding TN GOP governor fire all gays, Muslims

Tennessee is a national embarrassment.  They're the new Alabama (not that the old Alabama is any great shakes).  They're still racist, and now seem more and more liberated to spout other forms of bigotry, including homophobia and religious bigotry against Muslims.  We even had to create our own "label" for Tennessee here on AMERICAblog Gay, because there are so many stories about how bigoted that state is.

These people are freaking nuts.  And they run the Republican party of Tennessee, and are far too influential in the Republican party nationally.

We have some extremely backwards parts of our country, and sadly they've taken over one of the two political parties. Read the rest of this post...

TN school principal tells kids "if you're gay you're going to hell"

UPDATE: And she's gone.


Haywood High School (I'd recommend starting with the Super)
* Marlon King, Superintendent: kingm.haywood.k12tn@gmail.com - tel. 731-772-9613

Principal: Dorothy J. Bond bondd1@k12tn.net

Vice Principal: Michelle Tillman tillmanm3@k12tn.net
Assistant Principal/AAA Summer School Principal: Drayton Hawkins hawkinsd@k12tn.netmailto:hawkinsd@k12tn.net
___________________
UPDATE: The ACLU is getting involved.  Sayonara...

What is it about Tennessee?  What a hateful state.

They'd better hope that a kid doesn't kill themselves, or get gay-bashed, or that school district is going to be facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit. It's a fact now. The school district has a serious legal problem now. Anything short of totally rebuking this principal will send the message that they're soft on anti-gay abuse, and that will be used against them the first time a child is hurt. More from Andy at Towleroad.

Dorothy Bond (right) is the principal at Haywood High School in Brownsville, Tennessee. She's accused of making insensitive remarks during a meeting with students. Parents are hot under the collar and the comments could drive a wedge between people living there.

“At first she was talking about PDA and she turned around and she directly pointed to the gay people and said if you're gay you're going to hell and if you're pregnant, you're life is over,” Amber Whittiemore said.

Note that the school non-discrimination policy (bottom of the page) does not cover sexual orientation or gender identity:

Haywood County Schools does not discriminate in its programs or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, sex, age or genetics.

Read the rest of this post...

Hateful bigoted Tennessee is at it again

Tennessee was a slave state. Big surprise there. I don't why anyone would do business in this state. They go out of their way to bash gays. Again, big surprise that they were a slave state. Like far too many states, they seem to find their bigotry a badge of honor. Especially Tennessee Republicans, who were famous for their racist attacks on the President and First Lady during the 2008 campaign.

Last year Tennessee repealed every municipal civil rights ordinance in the state, and banned new ones (we wouldn't want black people, among others, getting too many rights). This time they're banning the word "gay" in Tennessee schools, likely in the hopes that gay kids will simply kill themselves when they can't get help from their teachers and counselors.  The only slim silver lining is that if they pass this legislation, and some kid does hurt themselves or get hurt, this can be used as proof of animus and hopefully get the kid and his family millions in a lawsuit.

Hateful bigoted place, Tennessee. Remember that the next time you have the option of passing through the state, working there, or otherwise. Spend your money elsewhere. Read the rest of this post...

TN GOP state senator says AIDS came about from "one guy screwing a monkey"

No, senator Stacey Campfield, that's how you came about.  From Mike Signorile:

"Most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community -- it was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men. It was an airline pilot, if I recall."

"My understanding is that it is virtually -- not completely, but virtually -- impossible to contract AIDS through heterosexual sex...very rarely [transmitted]."

"What's the average lifespan of a homosexual? it's very short. Google it yourself."

That last absurd tidbit comes from a discredited hate group run by a man called Paul Cameron.  He's been so discredited that the religious right refuses to even mention the guy any more, even though much of their anti-gay "science" is based on Cameron's fake "Nazi" science (that's what the Southern Poverty Law Center called it).  (As an aside, John Boehner's favorite lawyer - well, he's also well-loved by Attorney General Eric Holder and Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan - Paul Clement used research based in part on Cameron's work to defend DOMA.)

As for it being nearly impossible to get HIV from heterosexual sex, the majority of new AIDS cases in Sub-Saharan Africa are from heterosexual sex.  And over a quarter of HIV cases in Washington, DC occurred from heterosexual sex.

Sadly, this kind of rhetoric shouldn't surprise.  The Tennessee Republican party is still racist, in 2012, so we shouldn't be surprised that the state government, run by Republicans, is also virulently anti-gay.  Just last year the Tennessee legislature, with the support of its Republican governor and businesses like Comcast, AT&T, FedEx and Blue Cross, repealed every gay and trans rights ordinance in the state, and banned cities across the state from ever passing another civil rights law ever again.

Tennessee is also the proud state where the Tennessee Tea Party, which is little more than a grouping of conservative Republicans, had this to say about Barney Frank's retirement:

"Good riddance you perverted sodomite piece of sh-t!"

Here's a little more about Tennesee's GOP:

GOP Tennessee Lt. Gov calls Islam a 'cult,' says religious freedom may not count for Muslims

TN GOP sends around press release referring to Obama as "Hussein" and showing him in traditional Muslim garb.

TN GOP staffer sends out photo of Obama as a "spook" ("spook" is a racist term to refer to black people).

Then there was the communications director of the TN GOP who distributed the Christmas carol "Barack the Magic Negro."

Or the time racist Tennessee Republicans passed a law that denied a 96 year old black women the right to vote.

Or the time an "unabashed racist" who believes in eugenics, according to AP, won the House primary in Tennessee.

And now Tennessee is trying to ban teachers, and counselors, from ever mentioning the g-word. Which should do wonders to stop schools from helping gay and trans kids who are being bullied.  Oh yeah, the TN GOP senator also had something to say about bullying:

"That bullying thing is the biggest lark out there."

"There are sexually confused children who could be pushed into a lifestyle that I don’t think is appropriate with them and it's not for the norm for society, and they don't know how they can get back from that. I think a lot of times these young teens and young children, they find it very hard on themselves and unfortunately some of them commit suicide."

Yes, the evil gays are forcing teens to kill themselves.

Welcome to Tennessee: America at its worst.

(PS The story does have a happy ending, of sorts. Campbell was recently kicked out of a Knoxville, TN restaurant for his comments on gay people and AIDS.) Read the rest of this post...

TN Tea Party to Barney Frank: "Good riddance you perverted sodomite"

The homophobic Tennessee Tea Party (which isn't that much worse than the Tennessee Republican party) weighed in on the news of openly gay House member Barney Frank's retirement:

I'm assuming "POS" means "piece of sh-t". Read the rest of this post...

Politico on Barrios resigning as head of GLAAD

What I told the Politico reporter is that we're witnessing the corporate hijacking of our movement, and of the left more generally. As the article notes, GLAAD wasn't the only group to oddly weigh in on AT&T's irrelevant merger (irrelevant to lgbt rights, at least). Time and again we see our groups taking money from companies and then being less than fierce advocates on an issue involving that company.

And, as I noted, AT&T's favorite board member needs to be sent packing. Especially after AT&T joined other companies in helping to repeal our civil rights in Tennessee, and then when we asked them for help in stopping the hateful legislation from becoming law, AT&T's response was lukewarm at best. This company is not our friend, regardless of how well it treats its gay and trans employees. It treated the rest of us like garbage, and now seems to be co-opting our civil rights groups. That's not what friends are for.

Politico:

Influential members of the gay community say they believe Barrios’s resignation is a positive for GLAAD, but that the organization may need to further clean house and revisit its advocacy for causes unrelated to gay rights.

“GLAAD certainly has an AT&T problem that isn’t going to go away when Jarrett leaves,” John Aravosis, editor of AMERICAblog and a leading gay rights advocate, told POLITICO.

Aravosis called for the resignation of another GLAAD board member, Troup Coronado, a former AT&T official and lobbyist. Coronado’s bio on GLAAD’s website said that from 2008 to 2010 Coronado worked as AT&T’s vice president for external affairs in Los Angeles. AT&T had identified Coronado as a lobbyist for the company as recently as 2006, but the company said in its 2008 filing that he was no longer representing AT&T as a lobbyist.

Coronado is “going to have to pack his bags and get on the same train Jarrett is taking,” Aravosis said.

Coronado could not be reached Sunday.

Read the rest of this post...

Video: TN joins the south, again, land of the backwards bigots

His words, below, were nicer than mine. I do have to say, I never thought of Tennessee as part of the bigoted backwards South. The state was always kind of benign to me, like Kentucky. Part of that grey middle land between North and South - not quite New York, but not quite Alabama either. Well, not anymore. Tennessee is the new Mississippi. I'm sure the state has some nice people, but just like Virginia, a state that simply transfered its hatred of blacks to gays, Tennessee is now a place I'm not sure I'd ever like to visit, and certainly would never live. And that's sad.

Read the rest of this post...

Odd quote of the day

From the Advocate, regarding Tennessee's hate law that repealed gay and trans protections in Nashville:

Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese released the following statement: “Discrimination should have no place in the Volunteer State and the Chamber [of Commerce]’s opposition to this law sent a strong signal that corporations are on the leading edge of positive change. In contrast Governor Haslam has put discrimination ahead of the state’s values and even business interests by signing this horrible legislation.”

Corporations were also on the leading edge of making this entire thing happen. Their local representatives were responsible for this law, lobbied for this law via the local chamber of commerce, and then when we asked them for help killing it, most of them were cool to the idea at best.  As for the Chamber, it held its statement until 20 seconds - literally 20 seconds - before the governor signed the bill into law, making it utterly worthless.  Hardly a coincidence or a "strong signal."

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln... Read the rest of this post...

Which companies helped us and which screwed us re: the TN hate law

Nissan, FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare all, through their local reps in Tennessee, helped repeal the Nashville civil rights ordinance.  Once they were informed that we caught them red-handed, last Thursday, here's how the companies responded - from helpful to totally useless.

HELPFUL

Alcoa - Issued statement on Friday, unequivocal, opposing bill and supporting veto. Only company to support veto.  Set the standard for action.

Nissan - Nissan issued an equivocal statement last Friday, but then issued a much better one late Monday opposing the legislation, right before the governor signed it. To Nissan's credit, I heard rumors that they did much more behind the scenes, so I'm positioning them pretty high up on the list in terms of helpfulness. @NissanNews

BARELY HELPFUL

UnitedHealth - Issues statement 24 hours before governor signs bill. Opposes bill (good) but won't say anything about veto. Though they don't say anything about contacting the governor, issuing the statement 24 hours ago at least makes the statement useful. Twitter: @uhcfeds

Whirlpool - Issues statement two and a half hours before governor signs bill, opposes legislation, says will inform Governor's office of their position. They waited way too late to have much of an impact, but the statement was at least good. Twitter: @WhirlpoolCorp

Dupont - Issues statement opposing bill and saying they'll contact governor, one hour before the governor signs the bill, so it's totally useless. They waited until the last minute and ended up helping us not at all. I will give them points, barely, for at least finally saying the right thing. Trust me, when you see what the other companies did, you'll understand why Dupont falls comparatively high up on the list, even though they were basically useless. Twitter: @DuPont_News

MEH

KPMG - Issues statement today saying they oppose the bill, five hours before the governor signs it, but says nothing about contacting the governor or supporting a veto. Kind of late and not terribly helpful. Twitter: @KPMG

AT&T - Issued statement on Friday that didn't take a position on the bill or the veto. So they weighed in early, but didn't really saying anything. At least by weighing in early they put pressure on other companies to at least issue some statement, so I give them some credit. Twitter: @ATT

FedEx - Issued a statement last Friday that didn't even take a position on the bill nor on the veto. Kind of useless, but at least it was an early statement, which at least showed they were worried, unlike some other companies that refused to say anything (Caterpillar), or waited until the last minute when it was useless (Comcast). Twitter: @FedExNews @FedExDelivers

BASICALLY USELESS

Comcast - Issues statement two hours before governor signs law, opposes legislation, refuses to say anything about veto. Not very helpful two hours before the governor signs the bill into law. There's no excuse for waiting nearly four days to issue a statement about a civil rights issue - that's really quite abominable.  Twitter: @comcastcares

Blue Cross - They waited until Huff Post got on their tail earlier today to issue a statement, then couldn't even be bothered to issue an original statement - they clearly cribbed the earlier statements that other companies made (which looked like talking points they received and just copied).  And their statement never even says whether they do or don't support the bill.  The only reason I don't give them a "totally useless" is because at least when scared to death by Amanda Terkel they said something.

Pfizer - Pfizer issued a statement after Amanda got to them as well.  Their statement is totally useless, doesn't take a specific position on the bill or on the veto.  Simply that they don't generically suport discriminatory legislation.  (Except you did via the Chamber of Commerce.) Twitter: @pfizer

Embraer - One hour before the governor signed it they issued a statement to HuffPost saying they opposed the bill.  Nice, but no mention of support for the veto, and you waited until the last minute until a reporter called you.  Pretty useless. Twitter: @embraeraeronaut

TN Chamber of Commerce - Issues statement opposing the legislation 20 seconds before we find out the Governor has just signed the legislation. Coincidence? Doubtful. It looks like the Chamber timed their statement with the governor's signature so as not to embarrass the governor. Thanks.

TOTALLY USELESS

Caterpillar: Couldn't be bothered to even issue a statement. Nothing at all. Their local employee helped to repeal your civil rights and they could not be bothered to even acknowledge it. Twitter: @CaterpillarInc Read the rest of this post...

TN Governor signs anti-gay/trans hate bill, repeals civil rights protections, bans further civil rights laws in TN cities

The TN Chamber of Commerce, one of the forces behind anti-gay and anti-trans legislation that repeals a gay/trans civil rights ordinance in Nashville, and bans Tennessee cities from passing any civil rights legislation ever again, has just switched gears and is now opposing the bill.

Unfortunately, the Republican governor just signed the law.

Here is the Chamber's statement:

“The Tennessee Chamber supports a standard regulatory environment at the state level as opposed to potentially conflicting local regulations covering employment practices. That principle was the only interest the Chamber had in this bill. Because HB600/SB632 has turned into a debate on diversity and inclusiveness—principles which we support—we are now officially opposing this legislation in its present form.”

Adopted unanimously May 23, 2011

DEB WOOLLEY, PRESIDENT
TENNESSEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

This is is a bit like finding a man innocent after you throw the switch to kill him. It's hard to see how any of these companies avoid blame since they're on the board of the local chamber, and their local representatives were warned about this legislation a good month ago - warned that it would repeal gay and trans rights - and they did nothing about it until it was far too late. Every single company that sits on the Tennessee chamber of commerce is responsible for this atrocity. Read the rest of this post...

Nissan opposes TN hate bill

A good statement from Nissan:

"Nissan opposes HB600/SB632. While we believe in a standard State regulatory environment, we share public concerns about this bill‘s impact on diversity and inclusiveness. Nissan is committed to providing a diverse and inclusive environment for all stakeholders.”

Now what these businesses need to do is make it clear to the governor that they're screwed if this legislation becomes law, as everyone is going to rightfully blame their state reps for helping this become law. Read the rest of this post...

Comcast issues statement, refuses to take position on veto of TN hate law

At least Comcast, while awfully late to the game, is saying that they oppose the hateful law. Too bad Comcast is afraid, or unable, to call on the governor to veto it. I guess they're not that opposed.

“At Comcast, we believe it's simple: discrimination is wrong. Our policy of non-discrimination provides the same protections to all our employees, whether in Tennessee or any other state. Consistent with that, we don't support Tennessee SB632/HB600. Comcast agrees with the NGLCC, ‘No one should be judged by his or her sexual orientation or gender identity in the workplace. In this delicate economic climate, diminishing the rights of LGBT people sends the wrong signal across Tennessee and around the country.’"

Great, Comcast is so pro-diversity then I'm guessing they've already signed onto the letter going around that would ask the governor to veto the bill, right? Comcast has signed on to the letter, right? If not, then they're clearly not that opposed to the bill, and that would mean they just lied.

Tell Comcast how you feel via:

Facebook

Xfinity (aka Comcast)

Comcast New England

Comcast Michigan

NBC Universal (Comcast)

Twitter: @comcastcares Read the rest of this post...

Whirlpool opposes hate bill in TN, contacting governor about it

UPDATE: I wrote back to Whirlpool expressing my concern that they weren't even taking a position on the legislation or doing anything else to help us get this thing vetoed.  Here is their reply:

"Whirlpool Corporation opposes this legislation, which runs counter to our core values of diversity and inclusion. We are reaching out to the Governor's office and the Chamber to inform them of our position." -- Jill Saletta, director of external communications for Whirlpool Corporation.

That's better.
__________
[This is the earlier post, before Whirlpool amended their statement to add their objection to the bill and that they were reaching out to the governor.]

Whirlpool has just sent me the following statement about their role in helping the religious right repeal municipal gay rights, and all city-wide civil rights laws, in Tennessee:

Whirlpool Corporation’s future depends on its ability to attract and retain the best people at all levels of the Company. To do that, we strive to create a working environment that values diversity and protects the right of each employee to fair and equitable treatment. It is our policy that employees and applicants for employment will be treated on the basis of equality without regard to sex, age, race, disability, religion, color, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, ancestry, and national origin. Whirlpool Corporation did not lobby for SB632/HB600. While Whirlpool is a member of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, we do not support all positions proposed by the Chamber. – Jill Saletta, director of external communications for Whirlpool Corporation.

Cute.

It's not clear from the statement whether Whirlpool has any position on the legislation at all, or whether they've agreed to sign on to the letter calling on the Governor to veto the legislation (I know they've been asked).

If Whirlpool is not wiling to fix the situation that their own man on the ground, Richard Walters, created via his role on the board of the Chamber of Commerce, then it's not entirely clearly how supportive of diversity they really are. They seem far more interested in not offending bigots than in doing the right thing and fixing the very crisis they created. Their man Walters was informed of this situation on April 29. He was told, point blank, that the Chamber of Commerce, that he sits on the board of, was lobbying to repeal gay and trans rights legislation in Nashville. What did Whirlpool's Walters do to fix this problem after he was put on notice about it a good month ago?

We're going to need a lot more than a statement that doesn't even bother mentioning Whirlpool's position on the legislation before anyone forgives that company for the imminent repeal of civil rights in Tennessee.

And finally, as for Whirlpool not supporting all positions of the Chamber, that's cute. Would Whirlpool remain a member of the Chamber if it tried to repeal the 1964 Civil Rights Act? Somehow I have a feeling that if the minority being oppressed weren't the gays or trans Whirlpool would be doing a lot more than issuing a statement that doesn't even bother mentioning its position on the hateful bill, let alone whether it plans to do anything to help get a veto.

Tell Whirlpool, via their Facebook page and via Twitter (@WhirlpoolCorp) that they'd better fix this now. Read the rest of this post...

Companies warned a month ago that law would repeal gay/trans rights in TN, did nothing

This is quite a bombshell actually.

Nissan, FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare were put on notice one month ago, by members of the Nashville city council, that the legislation they were lobbying for, via their roles on the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, would repeal Nashville's gay/trans civil rights ordinance.

Each of those companies were given official notice of their role in this hate legislation nearly one month ago. And they did nothing until we exposed their role last Thursday night. And even then, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, Whirlpool and Embraer couldn't even be bothered to comment on the scandal. They've still said nothing - nothing. I guess our communities aren't important enough to Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, Whirlpool and Embraer.

But more importantly, don't let these companies tell you that they didn't know.  They were informed a month ago, when there was still time to kill this legislation, and they did nothing.  Well, that's not entirely true - they joined religious right hate groups in lobbying for the repeal of our civil rights via their roles as board members of the TN Chamber of Commerce
Nissan, FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer...

Take action: Send these companies a message on their Facebook pages and via their Twitter accounts. Read the rest of this post...

BREAKING: Lead NJ gay group revokes awards to AT&T, KPMG, Pfizer over role in TN hate law

(Contact these companies, and all companies that had a role in this hateful legislation, via their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts here.)

Garden State Equality, the lead gay group in New Jersey, has withdrawn the honors it recently gay to AT&T, KPMG and Pfizer over their role in the passage of the TN hate law, revoking municipal civil rights protections for everyone in the state, including gay and trans Tennesseans.  I have a press release that I'm reformatting and will try to post in a bit.

Garden State Equality withdraws honors for AT&T, KPMG and Pfizer for anti-LGBT lobbying by the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, on whose Board of Directors the three companies serve and had been told about the lobbying additionally

Garden State Equality, New Jersey's statewide organization for LGBT equality, stands by its sister organization, the Tennessee Equality Project

Contact: Steven Goldstein, Garden State Equality, Chris Sanders, Tennessee Equality Project

Monday, May 23, 2011 - Garden State Equality has voted to withdraw its honors of three national corporations, AT&T, KPMG and Pfizer, that serve on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry - a Chamber that has lobbied for a bill that would actually roll back legal protections for LGBT people in Tennessee. The bill has passed both houses of the Tennessee state legislature and is now before Tennesssee Governor Bill Haslam.

Garden State Equality learned of the three companies' role this past Friday, May 20th thanks to the outstanding reporting by John Aravosis and Joe Sudbay at Americablog. On Friday afternoon, Garden State Equality's executive committee voted unanimously to not to honor AT&T, KPMG and Pfizer, previously slated to be among the honorees at Garden State Equality's annual Legends Dinner on Saturday, June 25, 2011 at the Jersey City Hyatt Regency.

Legends, at which Garden State Equality honors corporations, legislators and individual activists for their contributions to LGBT equality, is a black-tie spectacular featuring stars from Hollywood, Broadway and politics. An estimated 800 guests will attend Legends 2011.

"We thank Garden State Equality for standing by us in Tennessee and showing true national leadership," said Chris Sanders, Nashville Committee Chair of the Tennessee Equality Project. "We hope organizations across America will follow Garden State Equality's lead with regard to companies on the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry."

"AT&T, KPMG and Pfizer don't have to remind us that their internal workplace policies are outstanding or that they have received several awards for corporate equality and diversity. That's why we had voted to honor them, " said Steven Goldstein, Chair of Garden State Equality. "And their LGBT employee groups are fantastic. But notwithstanding a company's internal policies, no company on a Board of Directors fighting against LGBT civil rights merits honors from Garden State Equality or any other pro-equality organization.

"Let our message resound everywhere," Goldstein said. "You cannot separate workplace policies from greater social responsibility, for laws that cover workplace discrimination directly affect treatment in the company workplace. You cannot boast about being a great company for LGBT equality on 29 days a month, but then work against LGBT equality on the 30th day and expect our appreciation. Equality is an everyday value."

After seeing the story on Americablog on Friday, Goldstein called Sanders at the Tennessee Equality Project. Sanders pointed out that four Nashville council members sent a letter about the bill to every company serving on the Chamber's Board of Directors, including to AT&T, KPMG and Pfizer, on April 29, 2011. In the letter, the four members of the Metro Council asked the companies to renounce the Chamber's support of the bill.

A copy of the letter is online at http://www.tennessean.com/assets/pdf/DN173731429.PDF.

This morning, Goldstein spoke with Jamie R. Hollin, one of the four Metro Council members who signed the April 29 letter. "When you serve on a Board of Directors, you're deemed to know about a Board's action," Councilman Hollin said. "But beyond that, it's abundantly clear that the companies knew, because we mailed or emailed a letter to everyone on the Board. And this has been in the Tennessee press. To this day, the only company on the Chamber Board that has told the Governor to veto the bill is Alcoa. Alcoa has acted responsibly and should be celebrated for its position."

Garden State Equality joins in celebrating Alcoa. "God bless Alcoa," said Goldstein, "and God bless the many other fair-minded companies across America that would no doubt join Alcoa if they, too, were on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry."

"When you make choices, there must be consequences for your choices," Councilman Hollin said. "The credibility of the Board member companies is on the line. Either they support equality for everyone or they don't. You can't have it both ways."

Even after receiving the letter from the four Metro Council members, none of the companies serving on the Chamber's Board have resigned from the Chamber.

Garden State Equality finds the Tennessee bill to be an unconscionable act of hatred. First, it would nullify county and municipal laws in Tennessee that protect the LGBT community from discrimination, including a Nashville law enacted last month. Secondly, it would bar all counties and municipalities in Tennessee from enacting future laws protecting the LGBT community from discrimination. And thirdly, the bill is a direct assault on transgender people in Tennessee. The bill redefines "sex" in the Tennessee code to include only the gender designated on a birth certificate. But Tennessee does not allow a change of gender designation on birth certificates for transgender people.

AT&T and KPMG have issued statements on the bill, but only after Americablog broke the story nationally. Garden State Equality finds both companies' statements to be tepid. Neither AT&T nor KPMG publicly called on the Governor to veto the bill. Nor has Pfizer. And none of the three companies has resigned from the Chamber.

As reported on May 4th in Out & About, Tennessee's LGBT newspaper, the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry issued a statement defending its support of the anti-LGBT bill because the Chamber believes employment standards "should be consistent across the state."

That comes across as preposterous, because the Chamber could call for legislation to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity across Tennessee. And according to Chris Sanders of the Tennessee Equality Project - and as reported in the Tennessee media - the purpose of the bill was clear from the start. It was introduced in the state legislature in response to the proposed Nashville ordinance, now law, requiring city contractors to pledge not to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Garden State Equality vetted nominations for its corporate honorees before the anti-LGBT bill in Tennessee came to light. Garden State Equality's decision to withdraw honors for AT&T, KPMG and Pfizer is consistent with the criteria Garden State Equality has established for honoring companies, which go beyond equality and diversity at a company's own workplace. Garden State Equality also considers the extent of each company's commitment to greater social responsibility or lack thereof.

With 82,000 members, Garden State Equality is New Jersey's largest civil rights organization. Since Garden State Equality's founding in 2004, New Jersey has enacted 212 LGBT civil rights laws at the state, county and local levels, a national record. New Jersey has sweeping anti-discrimination, anti-hate crimes and anti-school bullying laws, all enumerating sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, that are a model for America in their inclusiveness and scope.

STATEWIDE HEADQUARTERS: 500 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey 07042
Phone (973) GSE-LGBT www.GardenStateEquality.org

Since Garden State Equality's founding in 2004, New Jersey has enacted 212 LGBT civil rights laws at
the state, county and local levels - a national record. Garden State Equality is the only statewide
civil rights organization in history to be the subject of an Academy Award(r)-winning film.

Read the rest of this post...

TAKE ACTION: Leave messages on Facebook pages/Twitter accts of homophobic companies responsible for repealing gay/trans civil rights in Tennessee

Please visit the Facebook pages of each of the companies who are responsible for the hateful law passed in Tennessee last week that will repeal gay and trans municipal civil rights protections (and protections for every other minority), and ban cities in the state from every passing any civil rights law ever again, for anybody.

This stuff matters.  The most important thing to any company is their brand.  They don't like criticism, and really don't like it online where it can be read by millions and where it has a tendency to never truly go away (everything remains on the Internet forever).  You can help a lot by simply clicking through to each of these company's Facebook pages and posting a simply message telling them to stop the hate in Tennessee.

Here are the Facebook pages of the board members who have pages on which you can comment - click "like" on the page in order to comment:

Nissan

FedEx (you can post a reply to one of FedEx's posts on the page - be warned, they're deleting comments, even polite ones).

AT&T

Xfinity (aka Comcast)

Comcast New England

Comcast Michigan

NBC Universal (Comcast)

Jeff Gordon, Dupont is sponsoring his car, he's promoting them (Dupont doesn't have a page you can comment on)

Caterpillar

KPMG

Whirlpool

And here are their Twitter accounts:

@comcastcares
@NissanNews
@FedExNews
@FedExDelivers
@ATT
@DuPont_News
@pfizer
@CaterpillarInc
@KPMG
@WhirlpoolCorp
@embraeraeronaut
@uhcfeds

Finally, there's Alcoa.  Alcoa is the only company to, early on, publicly state their opposition to the hateful legislation and their desire for the governor to veto the bill.  Clearly Alcoa's role on the board of the chamber is troublesome, but they do deserve our praise for immediately doing the right thing and calling for a veto.  The other companies have refused.  Here is their Facebook page: Alcoa

Each of these organizations is a board member of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry.  Each of them is responsible for the chamber's endorsement of, and lobbying for, this religious right hate legislation.  We only have a few days to convince the governor to veto the bill - these companies need to help fix this problem now.

Visit their Facebook pages, click "like" at the top of the page, which will then permit you to leave a comment on their wall.  Feel free to say whatever you like, but I might recommend you link to our open letter, our Facebook action page, and our blog post summarizing the entire issue.

Read the rest of this post...

Companies being asked to sign letter to TN governor urging veto

We've learned that a letter is being circulated among the thirteen companies we've been targeting for their role in passing legislation repealing Nashville's gay and trans civil rights ordinance. The letter urges Tennessee's governor to veto the legislation (the legislation must be signed or vetoed in the next few days). At least one company has already signed the letter and is urging the rest to join it.

This raises the stakes significantly for the companies involved in this growing scandal. It's bad enough that nine of the companies have refused to even issue statements about this matter, but if one of the companies is willing to sign a letter to the governor, and the others refuse its request to join them, that will send a signal to our community that those companies think we simply didn't matter, and that they just weren't sufficiently interested in resolving this problem.  They have an opportunity to make things better, to prove they aren't anti-gay and anti-trans, to prove they never wanted this to happen.  Will they take it?

We'll be targeting specific companies shortly, providing you with contact information.

The companies we're targeting are: Nissan, FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare.

If you haven't already, please sign our open letter to these companies, putting them on notice that they need to work towards a veto, now.  And we've just posted a new Facebook action page about this campaign.  Please "like" it and send it to your friends.  Thanks. Read the rest of this post...

Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, BCBS, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer can’t be bothered to comment on TN hate law

Why have Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool and Embraer been silent on their role in passing the hate law in Tennessee? We've at least had statements from AT&T, FedEx, UnitedHealth, Alcoa and Nissan. But nothing from the rest. Can't be bothered to even respond, let alone help fix the tragedy each and every one of you helped create via your role on the board of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce? Read the rest of this post...

UnitedHealth: We do not support SB632/HB600 in Tennessee

I'm beginning to wonder just who did support this legislation, since the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce very much supported the legislation and very much lobbied for it.  And UnitedHealth is on the chamber's board.  I've never seen so many board members so allegedly clueless about their own organization is doing. Here's UnitedHealth's statement:

UnitedHealth Group Statement on Workplace Equality

UnitedHealth Group believes in recruiting and retaining a workforce that mirrors the multicultural communities we serve. A mix of different backgrounds and perspectives helps us develop strong products and programs our customers need. As part of that commitment, UnitedHealth Group supports and offers domestic partner benefits. We did not lobby for nor support Tennessee SB632/HB600.

It is important to note that, as part of its standard benefit design, all UnitedHealthcare health insurance plans include coverage for domestic partners.

In addition, UnitedHealth Group is gratified to have received the highest rating, 100 points, on the 2011 Corporate Equality Index. Launched in 2002, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index became a roadmap and benchmarking tool for U.S. businesses in the evolving field of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in the workplace.

To their credit, UnitedHealth says they don't support the legislation. To date, only Alcoa has been that explicit (though Alcoa called for a veto - no one else has.)

The problem is that even though UnitedHealth denies supporting this legislation, they're on the board of the chamber of commerce, and that chamber, that they oversee via the board, did lobby for the bill. If I were on the board of an organization that tried to repeal the 64 Civil Rights Act, for example, I have a feeling ignorance wouldn't be much of a defense.

But let's take UnitedHealth at its word. Let's say they're super duper pro-gay and pro-trans. Let's say they regret this legislation heading to the governor for his signature.

Great. So what has UnitedHealth done to help ensure the governor vetoes this legislation?  Here's what you can do - join the over 8,000 people who have signed the open letter to these companies demanding they push for a veto.

I've also set up a Facebook page for this campaign - please head over and "like" it, and forward it to your friends.  Thanks. Read the rest of this post...

"Gays will rape your kids" ad used to promote the TN Chamber of Commerce’s hate bill

You'll recall that Nissan and AT&T are now complaining that they had no idea that the hate legislation in Tennessee, that their own chamber of commerce lobbied for, was intended to bash gays and transgender people. Yes, no one could have known that legislation written to repeal gay and trans rights laws was intended to diminish gay and trans people, especially when the ads being run to promote the legislation told Tennesseans that we were going to rape their children.  I guess that was a tad too subtle for Nissan and AT&T.

Scott Wooledge over at DKos dug up this ad that they actually ran to lobby for this legislation. I want you to see what was being used to promote Nissan, FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG. Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare's legislation that their chamber of commerce was pushing (they all sit on the board of the local chamber that helped make this legislation happen):



Yeah, it was just a nice piece of pro-business legislation that somehow, in the past few gays, the gays have twisted to make it seem anti-gay. Right.

Please sign our open letter to these companies telling them they'd better fix this now.  Over 7,000 people have signed - won't you?  Then please forward it to your friends on Twitter and Facebook. Read the rest of this post...