For the Metro Nashville area, the month of June will be “Nashville Pride Month” and one week in May will be “Black Restaurant Week.” Metro Nashville City Council passed two resolutions confirming these celebratory declarations at their last council meeting on Tuesday.
The Tennessee Star reached out to the sponsors for both resolutions. We asked “Nashville Pride Month” sponsor Zach Young what he meant by the statement that the LGBTQ+ communities had given “enormous contributions to the quality of life in Nashville and Davidson County[.]”
During the meeting, Young explained that a Goodlettsville Middle School teacher thanked him for being gay, and said that she cited him and other gay council members while telling students the importance of recognizing visibility. “Visibility” refers to representation of an LGBTQ+ person in various vocations, such as in acting and politics. Young also asserted that he had the Metro area has “a long ways to go” concerning LGBTQ+ equality, and alluded to legislation passed by Tennessee General Assembly concerning transgender individuals.
Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk has said that he won’t enforce the law requiring businesses to inform patrons that they allow any individual to use any bathroom, even if that individual’s biological sex doesn’t align with what’s depicted on the bathroom sign.
For the second resolution, we inquired with sponsor Tanaka Vercher what sort of events that city officials had in mind for the week-long recognition, if any, and whether there has been any discussion of similar recognition weeks for Asian or other minority-owned businesses.
The Star didn’t receive responses from either council member by press time.
The council passed both resolutions after a lengthy three-hour discussion of the proposed budget. Watch the full meeting here:
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Nashville City Hall” by euthman. CC BY-SA 2.0.
Needs to be followed by HIV/ Hepatitis vaccine awareness week.
Since I have the “right” to decided what I am, I am now a Yellow School Bus.
In fairness to we Yellow School Buses, the council must declare the month of July as Yellow School Bus Pride Month!
I asked the council to put out a resolution saying that our monuments should not be desecrated with paint after the civil war peace monument was covered with hate.
Not one person responded. Not one. What a pitiful joke our council has become.
Let’s not leave out the one legged albino midgets. They need love too.