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Bishop Barber Leads Nashville 'Moral Monday' Rally Ahead of Vote to Arm Teachers
"It's simply insane to watch our children get killed and look to guns for an answer," the Poor People's Campaign co-chair said, criticizing a bill that would let faculty members carry firearms in schools.
Apr 17, 2023
As Tennessee's Republican-controlled House of Representatives prepared to vote on a bill that would allow teachers to carry guns in schools, hundreds of faith leaders and other demonstrators rallied outside the state Capitol in Nashville to protest gun violence and demand lawmakers enact firearm control legislation.
Led by Bishop William Barber II, the "Moral Monday" rally preceded debate by Tennessee state lawmakers over H.B. 1202, which would empower faculty members with enhanced carry permits to carry concealed handguns on school grounds, including in classrooms.
"Have these deaths scared us to life yet?"
Participants in the Moral Monday march carried mock caskets and an urn representing victims of last month's mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, in which three 9-year-old children and three adults were murdered. Other demonstrators carried signs with messages including "Faith without action is dead" and "Every day, 120 people in America are killed with guns."
"Have these deaths scared us to life yet?" Barber asked the audience gathered at McKendree United Methodist Church in downtown Nashville. "It's simply insane to watch our children get killed and look to guns for an answer."
\u201cRIGHT NOW: Tennessee Students Demand Action leaders are marching to the State Capitol with students, @MomsDemand volunteers, and #MoralMondays activists to protest a dangerous bill to arm teachers in the state. Watch live: https://t.co/gA59foi92z\u201d— Students Demand Action (@Students Demand Action) 1681761391
"It's never about just one issue," the Repairers of the Breach and Poor People's Campaign co-chair continued. "You are here today and you care about banning assault weapons and dealing with guns. You can't say you care about that and you're willing to be on the frontline about that, but you're not on the frontline about voter suppression."
Monday's demonstration came nearly two weeks after Tennessee Republican state lawmakers voted to expel Reps. Justin Jones (D-52) and Justin Pearson (D-86) for interrupting a floor session to demand legislative action on gun control. Both lawmakers were subsequently reinstated by municipal councils; days after returning to the House, Pearson introduced legislation that would tighten firearm ownership rules.
\u201cToday on the House floor, we\u2019ll be voting on HB 1202 to allow teachers to carry guns in schools. Is this really the direction we want to go as a state\u2014 more guns in schools? This is an irresponsible response to school shootings and will not keep students safe. This is madness.\u201d— Rep. Justin Jones (@Rep. Justin Jones) 1681738639
Bill Lee, Tennessee's Republican governor and a staunch Second Amendment supporter, surprised many observers by signing an April 11 executive order strengthening background checks for firearm purchases. Lee—whose wife lost her best friend in the Covenant School shooting—also advocated for a so-called "red flag" law that would empower authorities to remove guns from people deemed dangerous.
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'See You in Court,' Say Rights Groups After Tennessee Bans Care for Trans Youth
"We will not allow this dangerous law to stand," the ACLU and Lambda Legal vowed after Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed the gender-affirming healthcare ban into law.
Mar 02, 2023
A trio of civil rights groups on Thursday said they will sue after Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee ignored pleas from human rights and health experts and signed a bill banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth—a move that came on the same day the governor also approved legislation criminalizing public drag shows.
Under S.B. 1—introduced by state Sen. Jack Johnson (R-23), the same lawmaker behind the public drag ban—transgender minors undergoing hormone therapy or taking prescribed puberty blockers as of July 1, 2023 will be cut off from such care in Tennessee after March 31, 2024. Trans youth not receiving gender-affirming care by July 1 will be barred from doing so in the state.
Tennessee joins Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah in outlawing or restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth—and, in the case of Alabama, anyone under age 19. Federal judges have blocked Alabama and Arkansas from implementing their bans. Meanwhile this year, at least 24 states have introduced legislation to prohibit or restrict such care.
Lambda Legal—which along with the ACLU and ACLU of Tennessee announced its intent to sue—accused Lee and Republican lawmakers of "taking away the freedom of families of transgender youth to seek critical healthcare" and "putting the government in charge of making vital decisions traditionally reserved to parents in Tennessee."
"They've chosen fearmongering, misrepresentations, intimidation, and extremist politics over the rights of families and the lives of transgender youth in Tennessee."
"We will not allow this dangerous law to stand," the groups said in a joint statement. "Certain politicians and Gov. Lee have made no secret of their intent to discriminate against youth who are transgender or their willful ignorance about the lifesaving healthcare they seek to ban."
"Instead, they've chosen fearmongering, misrepresentations, intimidation, and extremist politics over the rights of families and the lives of transgender youth in Tennessee," the groups added. "We are dedicated to overturning this unconstitutional law and are confident the state will find itself completely incapable of defending it in court. We want transgender youth to know they are not alone and this fight is not over."
\u201cBREAKING: Tennessee Governor Bill Lee just signed into law a ban on all forms of gender-affirming care for trans people under 18. We're suing.\n\nTennessee \u2014 we'll see you in court.\u201d— ACLU (@ACLU) 1677791360
Ivy Hill, director of gender justice for the Campaign for Southern Equality, said in a statement after the bill passed that "my heart is breaking for transgender youth all across the country and throughout the South."
"We've known for years that it's never been easy to access gender-affirming care in states like Tennessee and the passage of this bill will only make it harder," they added. "But the trans and queer community across the South will do what we've always done: come together, support each other, and chart new systems that help people live authentic, thriving lives where they know they are loved and supported."
Dr. Allison Stiles, a Memphis physician, said that "this bill, I feel, was born out of fearmongering—out of false rhetoric that we are doing sex-change operations on our children."
"The hate has grown, and we now have a bill that could get parents arrested for taking their gender-dysphoric child to the physician, and their physicians for taking care of them," she asserted.
"There are at least four human beings that I have touched with my hands who are this side of the grave because of the gender-affirming care."
"Just to throw in a little science here... there are four independent aspects to our sexuality," Stiles added. "Our genetics—which could be XX, XO, XY, XXY, XYY—there is our outward appearance, our gender identity, and our sexual preference. The XX and XY fetus are identical, actually, until six weeks of gestation."
Proponents of gender-affirming care noted it saves lives.
"There are at least four human beings that I have touched with my hands who are this side of the grave because of the gender-affirming care," Rev. Dawn Bennett of the Table Nashville, a faith group that centers the LGBTQ+ community, recently asserted.
\u201cAny person at risk of being affected by these restrictions on gender-affirming care should reach out to https://t.co/79KIQtz5zD or https://t.co/zp5TRXGsU3.\u201d— ACLU of Tennessee (@ACLU of Tennessee) 1677795133
According to the ACLU, Republican lawmakers in more than 20 states are trying to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth—and in some cases, even adults.
Lee also signed a bill on Thursday making Tennessee the first state to criminalize public drag shows. The governor signed the measure amid allegations of hypocrisy following the revelation that he dressed in drag at least once while in high school in the 1970s.
"Drag is not a threat to anyone. It makes no sense to be criminalizing or vilifying drag in 2023," Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, a professor of culture and gender studies at the University of Michigan who has performed in drag, told the Associated Press.
"It is a space where people explore their identities," La Fountain-Stokes continued. "But it is also a place where people simply make a living. Drag is a job. Drag is a legitimate artistic expression that brings people together, that entertains, that allows certain individuals to explore who they are and allows all of us to have a very nice time. So it makes literally no sense for legislators, for people in government, to try to ban drag."
\u201c@TheTNHoller @GovBillLee I wonder if he was a minor when he dressed in drag? If so, how did his parents allow it?\u201d— The Tennessee Holler (@The Tennessee Holler) 1677531691
Other GOP-run states—including Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota, and Oklahoma—are considering similar drag bans.
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Tennessee, Mississippi GOP Move to Ban 'Lifesaving' Healthcare for Trans Youth
"Legislators are risking trans young people's health, well-being, and safety with this dangerous legislation," said an ACLU of Tennessee staff attorney, urging the governor to veto the bill.
Feb 23, 2023
In moves that alarmed advocates for transgender youth, the Tennessee and Mississippi GOP-dominated legislatures this week sent bills banning gender-affirming care for minors to their Republican governors' desks.
Even though organizations including the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and American Psychiatric Association support gender-affirming care for young people, GOP state lawmakers nationwide have recently introduced bills intended to restrict or outlaw it.
The Tennessee House of Representatives on Thursday voted 77-16 on House Bill 1, with three Democrats joining Republicans to pass the measure, which the state Senate passed 26-6 last week.
Under H.B. 1, doctors could not provide healthcare such as hormone therapies, puberty blockers, or surgical procedures to trans minors, with limited exceptions for care that began before the bill would take effect on July 1. Those who violate the pending law could face a state attorney general probe and a $25,000 fine.
"We know from the research that access to transgender-related healthcare is critical to the physical and mental health of transgender people and their ability to thrive in their daily lives," said Emma Chinn co-author of LGBTQ+ Tennesseans, special projects coordinator at the Campaign for Southern Equality, and a master of public policy candidate at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
"As a Tennessean, I feel furious that my state is taking steps to make life more challenging for transgender young people," Chinn added. "I am more committed than ever to finding ways to support families and center the powerful voices of young people in the months ahead."
As The Tennessean reported Thursday:
The bill will soon be sent to Gov. Bill Lee's desk, which kicks off a 10-day countdown, not including Sundays, for Lee to sign it into law. Even if Lee chooses not to sign, the bill becomes law without his signature unless he vetoes it.
Though he rarely takes an explicit position on pending bills, Lee on Friday signaled he is "supportive" of the bill's content.
ACLU of Tennessee staff attorney Lucas Cameron-Vaughn promised a court fight if the GOP governor does not veto the bill.
"We are deeply disturbed that state politicians have voted to interfere with the ability of families to make decisions, in consultation with medical professionals, to provide critical care for young people who are transgender," Cameron-Vaughn said. "All Tennesseans should have access to the healthcare they need to survive and thrive."
"Gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth is safe, necessary, effective, and often lifesaving," the lawyer stressed. "Legislators are risking trans young people’s health, well-being, and safety with this dangerous legislation. We urge Gov. Lee to veto this overreaching, discriminatory bill, or we will see him in court."
"We urge Gov. Lee to veto this overreaching, discriminatory bill, or we will see him in court."
Cameron-Vaughn's colleague McKenna Raney-Gray, LGBTQ Justice Project staff attorney at the ACLU of Mississippi, delivered a similar message about House Bill 1125 to GOP Gov. Tate Reeves earlier this week.
After the Mississippi House of Representatives last month passed that bill 78-30, with four Democrats joining Republicans, the state Senate on Tuesday approved it 33-15, voting along party lines.
"This is a devastating development for transgender youth in Mississippi and heartbreaking for all of us who love and support them," said the ACLU's Raney-Gray. "This care was already too difficult to access across the state for transgender people of any age, but this law shuts the door on best-practice medical care and puts politics between parents, their children, and their doctors."
In a letter to Reeves, Raney-Gray wrote that "if enacted, this legislation will deny children lifesaving, medically necessary healthcare and violate the constitutional rights of Mississippians," and urged him to veto the ban.
However, Reeves vowed to sign the legislation, tweeting Tuesday that "sterilizing and castrating children in the name of new gender ideology is wrong. That plain truth is somehow controversial in today's world. I called for us to stop these sick experimental treatments, and I look forward to getting the bill."
\u201cMore than 360 anti-LGBTQ+ bills are moving through state legislatures right now.\n\nWe are officially tracking more bills targeting the transgender community than ever before. Over 90 of those anti-trans bills are attempting to ban affirming medical care.\u201d— Human Rights Campaign (@Human Rights Campaign) 1677083483
Mickie Stratos, president of the Spectrum Center of Hattiesburg, emphasized that "Mississippi legislators are positioning H.B. 1125 as a measure to protect kids, when the reality is that this bill will do the exact opposite. Access to gender-affirming medical care is a top indicator of healthy and positive outcomes for trans people."
"To criminalize that care is a direct assault on the physical, emotional, and mental health of trans youth, and we will see negative outcomes for our trans youth and their families in [Mississippi] as a result," they warned. "Regardless of the outcome of this legislation, we will remain here in Mississippi to support, affirm, love, and care for the trans folks and their families impacted by this attack."
Ivy Hill, director of gender justice for the Campaign for Southern Equality, said that "this bill—and an overwhelming wave of similar legislation moving quickly in states across the country—is cruelly targeting transgender youth and their doctors. To every trans young person who feels attacked, marginalized, or fearful for the future: Please know that you are loved, you are supported, and there is queer community across the state and nationwide who care about you and are joining with you in solidarity."
As part of that wave, GOP Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed into law a ban on gender-affirming care for youth last month, and Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed another last week.
While similar bills have advanced in Nebraska and Oklahoma, "a federal judge who blocked Arkansas' ban on gender-affirming care for minors is now considering whether to strike down the law as unconstitutional," The Associated Pressreported Thursday. "A similar ban in Alabama has also been temporarily blocked by a federal judge."
This post has been updated with comment from Emma Chinn.
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