Members of the greater Knoxville PFLAG Chapter, along with members of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church (TVUUC) held a fundraising dinner on February 17th, 2010 for the purpose of funding a van rental for a visit to Nashville, TN for Advancing Equality Day. Advancing Equality Day is hosted each year by the Tennessee Equality Project in an effort to introduce the LGBT community and their supporters to the legislative process. Through this event, people that would not normally speak with their representative are given the opportunity to meet them face-to-face and discuss issues that are important to them as well as the LGBT community.
Through the fundraising dinner, $186 were collected. Additionally donations were given by Amy Broyles and David Massey and each van rider contributed $10. The van left TVUUC at 6:00 am with 7 participants from Knoxville, which also included three students from the University of Tennessee Social Sciences Dept. and one participant from Newport. The students got word of the trip when local PFLAG president, Larry Kitchen, made a “pitch” at a forum he attended at the invitation of Dr. Mary Rogge.
During the visit to Legislative Plaza participants visited with Representatives Harry Tindell, Harry Brooks, Bill Dunn, Bob Ramsey, Frank Niceley, and Jim Hackworth. Representative Joe Armstrong stated he was very pleased that we stopped by which was in significant contrast to Representative Ryan Haynes who sternly complained that he “would never support LGBT legislation).
We also visited with Senators Jamie Woodson, Tim Burchett, Randy McNally and Doug Overby. Participants thought Overby was very stoic and unlike other Representatives and Senators they meet with, did not offer a handshake at the conclusion of the meeting. All legislative members, with the exception of Haynes and Overby, were respectful and asked pointed questions and actively listened to what was said.
Concerning specific legislation they all felt the adoption bill wouldn’t go anywhere because of its large fiscal note. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite understand the need for hate crimes enhancement. They all felt “why should there be the additional wording”. Crime is crime. This response only demonstrates that additional efforts are needed to refine our argument to get “gender identity or gender expression” added to the existing hate crime law in Tennessee.
After a long and fruitful day, we stopped and ate southern Italian at a nice restaurant before completing our journey back to Knoxville. We arrived at 9:30 pm, a little tired, but certainly more enthusiastic about the legislative process. We see more and more people getting involved, even if they don’t make the trip they are talking with their elected officials and this is always a good thing.
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