California became the first state in America to legally recognize a third gender after Democrat Gov. Jerry Brown signed the legislation Sunday. State drivers’ licenses, birth certificates, and other identity documents will now allow residents to check “non-binary” rather than just male or female, the Sacramento Bee reported Monday. The Gender Recognition Act is one of…
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A Georgia mom is asking questions after her sixth-grade daughter was asked to identify sexual preferences and identities on a school assignment. “Why are they teaching that in school?,” Octavia Parks said to Fox 5 Atlanta. “What does that have to do with life?” Her daughter brought home the assignment last week from a health class at Lithonia Middle School in suburban Atlanta. The assignment had 10 questions asking students to come up with words like gay, lesbian and transgender. Parks said her daughter still watches Nickelodeon and that she’s not ready to explain those words to her. She said she would remove her daughter from the class and also go to the school board. A spokesman for the DeKalb County School District said in statement that “DCSD has been made aware of this alleged event, and is working to verify its authenticity. We will investigate this event and take action, as appropriate, once that investigation is completed.”
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Editor’s update: Despite the risks associated with maintaining the creation of additional, vaguely defined “protected classes,” the Knox County school board acquiesced to Mayor Madeline Rogero’s wishes and voted Wednesday night to keep the extended language in the employee and student handbooks with regards to the school system’s harassment policy. New language was added in 2012 that authors say was intended to protect LGBTQ persons from harassment, however, Chief Deputy Law Director David Buuck told the Knoxville News Sentinel that the change could imperil the school system with more – not less – lawsuits: “It has cost the taxpayers several hundred thousand dollars just to defend those. It’s just not right,” he said. “We have a duty to protect this board also from frivolous lawsuits, and despite what the professor of law said, as soon as you put in some of this wording that people out in this audience are wanting, it’s creating another protected in class in violation of equal protection for all students. “And the minute that happens, one or two of those same attorneys is going to be filing a lawsuit, and we’ll have to go to federal court and defend it.” The News Sentinel broke down the school…
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The Birmingham City Council in Alabama this week passed non-discrimination ordinances that include sweeping protections for LGBT people and spell out criminal penalties for violators. The council on Tuesday unanimously passed an ordinance addressing discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations, and a companion measure addressing discrimination in awarding city contracts. The council will create a human rights commission “to promote principles of diversity, inclusion, and harmony” and to hear complaints. The ordinances also mention other statuses such as race and disability, but the main intent was to offer protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, which are not covered under Alabama law. The legislation is the first of its kind in the state, though there are more than 200 cities and counties across the country with similar protections. Sexual orientation is defined in the Birmingham legislation as “actual or perceived homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality.” Gender identity is defined as “actual or perceived gender related identity, expression, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual’s designated sex at birth.” Violators found to be discriminatory can be fined up to $500. In 2014, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest pro-LGBT activist group, launched an…
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The Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT) has joined 32 other family policy councils nationwide in filing a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of a Colorado baker accused of discrimination for declining to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the major, closely-watched case involving Jack Phillips and his family business, Masterpiece Cakeshop. The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that a state law could force Phillips to create a custom cake that conveys a message contrary to what he believes as a Christian. Phillips and his attorneys petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMn3WycWJsg The amicus brief was drafted by David French, an attorney and senior writer for National Review who lives in Columbia, about 45 miles south of Nashville. In a letter to supporters, David Fowler, the president of FACT, said joining the amicus brief is in keeping with “our mission to defend free speech and religious liberty.” The Supreme Court has received at least 45 friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the baker. The support comes from 479 creative professionals, 20 states including Tennessee, and 86 members of Congress, all Republicans. A variety of legal experts, civil rights advocates and…
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Latinos For Tennessee is defending the Nashville Statement, a declaration by Christian evangelicals that upholds traditional marriage and maintains that homosexuality and transgenderism are sinful. Tommy Vallejos, the group’s board chairman, says the swift backlash against the statement is “outrageous.” The statement was approved Aug. 25 at a meeting of evangelical leaders in Nashville and was named for the city in keeping with a historical Christian practice of naming doctrinal statements for the places where they were written. Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, a progressive Democrat, spoke out against the statement, tweeting that it “does not represent the inclusive values of the city & people of Nashville.” Three Nashville progressives started a counter statement that says, “God does not need you to change.” The Nashville Statement has also drawn criticism from some Christians who attend conservative churches who say it was too harsh and not helpful to the discussion of LGBT issues. A Sept. 9 news release from Latinos For Tennessee noted that the Nashville Statement reiterated “a set of beliefs and principles that are shared by millions of Americans and the majority of Tennesseans, according to some polls.” Vallejos, who is a pastor in Clarksville and a Montgomery County commissioner, said…
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More than 400 Union University alumni have signed a letter of protest over the president and three faculty members signing the Nashville Statement, an evangelical declaration that upholds traditional marriage and describes homosexuality and transgenderism as sinful. Union University is a Southern Baptist school in Jackson, Tennessee. The letter of protest illustrates the challenges faced by conservative religious institutions as they seek to continue being an influence at a time when progressive ideas are becoming entrenched in the culture. Signed by recent graduates as well as some who graduated decades ago, the letter calls the Nashville Statement “a declaration of bigotry and condemnation that is a far cry [from] the faith, hope, love, and acceptance we were taught was the hallmark of the faith of Union University.” The Nashville Statement was approved Aug. 25 at a meeting of evangelical leaders in Nashville and was named for the city in keeping with a historical Christian practice of naming doctrinal statements for the places where they were written. Many of the initial signatories were Southern Baptists. The Union University alumni letter takes issue with various aspects of the Nashville Statement, including a section that says faithful Christians cannot agree to disagree about homosexual behavior…
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Nashville Mayor Megan Barry on Tuesday criticized the Nashville Statement written and signed by evangelical Christians to show support for traditional marriage and maintain that homosexuality and transgenderism are sinful. The document was approved Friday at a meeting in Nashville of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW). The meeting was hosted by the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commision (ERLC) during its annual conference. Barry, a progressive Democrat, tweeted that the statement and its name reflect poorly on Nashville because the declaration “does not represent the inclusive values of the city.” The @CBMWorg's so-called "Nashville Statement" is poorly named and does not represent the inclusive values of the city & people of Nashville — Megan Barry for Congress (TN-7) (@MeganCBarry) August 29, 2017 In 2015, when she was a Metro councilwoman and a mayoral candidate, Barry officiated the first same-sex wedding in Nashville just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the 14th Amendment extends the right to marry to same-sex couples. Denny Burk, president of CBMW, wrote on the organization’s website that naming the statement for the city of Nashville follows historical practice. He said: There is a long Christian tradition of naming doctrinal…
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Tennessee businesses and corporations are yielding to pressure from LGBT activists to promote LGBT ideology in the workplace in the name of diversity. Nissan is now offering benefits to help transgender employees transition, and even Cracker Barrel is pro-actively seeking approval and recognition from the LGBT community. Cracker Barrel had a booth at Nashville’s gay pride festival in June next to which it set up its trademark rocking chairs for festival-goers to kick back and relax. The push is well under way despite Tennessee being a red state where conservatism is influenced by Christian faith, and where voters overwhelmingly helped put President Trump in office. Trump recently announced that he would restore a ban on transgender troops in the military that had been undone by former President Obama, who not only wanted to welcome openly transgender troops but help them with the medical costs of transitioning. In the private sector, special medical benefits for transgender individuals have also become an issue. Nissan North America, based in Franklin, has added benefits to cover sex reassignments, according to the Nashville Business Journal. Covered costs include those associated with treatments, surgeries and other medical procedures. Last year, Nissan worked with the Human Rights Campaign, the…
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Threats of violence against the owners of a Pennsylvania Bridal shop over their religious objection to LGBT marriage have caused the shop to shut down. The co-owner of W.W. Bridal Boutique, Victoria Miller, said the shop would only be taking appointments and would not be open for walk-ins due to threats against Miller and the shop…
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The conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT) praised President Trump on Wednesday for saying that transgenders would not be allowed in the military, a reversal of a policy set in motion by former President Obama, who lifted a previous ban. David Fowler, president of FACT, said in a statement that “the military is not suited for social experimentation.” Obama had set a deadline of July 1 for fully implementing his policy, but Trump’s defense secretary had announced a six-month delay in enlisting transgender people. However, those already enlisted were allowed to transition and soldiers had started to undergo sensitivity training on welcoming soldiers of the opposite biological sex in barracks, bathrooms and showers. In a series of tweets Wednesday, Trump said that after consulting with generals and military experts, he decided that the U.S. government “will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military” so that the armed forces will not “be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.” Fowler’s full statement said: President Trump has kept a campaign promise to make military preparedness the focus of our military, and I commend him for doing…
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Tennessee same-sex couples have the same parental rights as heterosexual couples with children born through artificial insemination, a judge ruled Friday. The judge dismissed a challenge to a new state law backed by conservatives requiring using the “natural and ordinary meaning” of words in state law. But LGBT activists consider the judge’s ruling a victory because of language in the ruling about equal parental rights, reports the Associated Press. Gov. Haslam signed the “natural meaning” bill in May despite objections from LGBT advocates and Nashville Mayor Megan Barry. Four married lesbian couples expecting children through artificial insemination sued after the law went into effect. But Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle dismissed the lawsuit, saying the plaintiffs didn’t prove their rights had been violated. There had been a lack of clarity over how the new law would be interpreted and how much impact it would really have. Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery has maintained that the new law would have to be considered in light of another state law requiring gender-specific words to be interpreted as inclusive. Another bill considered by the state legislature this year required that the words “husband,” “wife,” “mother,” and “father” be interpreted based on the biological distinctions…
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Samford University has decided not to seek formal recognition of a campus LGBT group as originally planned this past spring, but still plans to work toward the group’s goals. The group Samford Together was given provisional recognition at the Southern Baptist school in spring 2016 and was approved by the student senate in fall 2016. A faculty senate narrowly approved the group earlier this year, and then a majority of the full faculty voted for approval in April. A final decision was up to the board of trustees. The school intended to ask trustees this fall to grant recognition of the group, but now that won’t happen, Samford president Andrew Westmoreland said in a press release Friday. The Alabama Baptist Convention and its mission board had strongly criticized the push for formal recognition of the group, saying the school was in danger of compromising biblical teachings on sexuality. The state convention threatened to withhold its annual financial allocation to the school if Samford trustees did not vote to deny permanent recognition of Samford Together and revoke its provisional status. Westmoreland said Samford has voluntarily declined to accept its annual budget allocation from the state convention effective January 2018. This is the third time…
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Organizers of the Nashville Pride Festival are cheering a resolution passed by the Metro Council recognizing June as “Nashville Pride Month.” The annual gay pride event will be held Saturday and Sunday at Public Square Park. The Metro Council resolution, as well as the event’s corporate sponsors, reflect the degree to which what once was a fringe movement has become mainstream, even here in the South where there are still many churches, a number of which continue to uphold traditional beliefs about marriage and sexuality. The resolution says that “the city of Nashville is honored to welcome members of the LGBT community and their allies to celebrate a very special and important event honoring the diversity, inclusion, and history of the pride and gay rights movement.” The resolution also says that the “celebration and movement continues to grow and celebrates inclusion as a necessary ingredient to making Nashville and the United States truly diverse. Nashville Pride has grown immensely and is now one of the largest public weekend festivals in Middle Tennessee, reminding us to embrace what makes each individual unique and to use those qualities to change the world for the better.” More than 20,000 people attended the festival year. This year,…
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Nashville area pastor Stan Mitchell is among those at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix this week to try to persuade Southern Baptists to embrace LGBT activism. Mitchell is the founding pastor of GracePointe, a nondenominational evangelical church in Franklin that made national news in 2015 when it began to offer gays all the privileges of membership, including marriage. The church touts itself as “a progressive Christian community.” Mitchell is involved with Faith in America, an advocacy group that believes that “LGBT people should be removed from the sin list,” according to a May 31 news release. The group claims that conservative Christians are harming LGBT youth by making them feel bad about their sexual orientation, which the group says has led some young people to kill themselves. “Southern Baptists Must Change (and they are not the only ones),” Mitchell posted on his Facebook page June 9. Group organizers asked Southern Baptist leaders to meet with them before or during the convention, but that could not be arranged because of a busy schedule, Southern Baptist Convention spokesman Roger Oldham told The Tennessee Star. The group is welcome to meet with Southern Baptist leaders at their Nashville headquarters another time,…
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Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler and other Christians are speaking out against a new government policy in Illinois that requires foster care workers and families to endorse LGBT ideology. Workers with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services could be fired if they don’t comply, according to the policy approved last month and found in Appendix K of the department’s procedures manual. The policy states that anyone involved with children served by the department “will complete mandatory training in LGBTQ competency.” Staff and foster parents should “understand that when children and youth (including DCFS children and youth) explore/express a sexual orientation other than heterosexual and/or a gender identity that is different from the child/youth’s sex assigned at birth, those children and youth are to be supported and respected without any effort to direct or guide them to any specific outcome for their exploration,” the policy says. Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, said the policy excludes participation of orthodox Christians in Illinois’ foster care system, reports Baptist Press. Mohler made his comments on The Briefing, his daily podcast offering opinions on current events. “This development in Illinois also serves as a very brutal reminder…
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A small Christian college in North Carolina long supported by the family of evangelist Billy Graham is defending a new requirement that faculty and staff sign a pledge saying they are pro-life and for traditional marriage. The Montreat College statement says that faculty and staff will “uphold the God-given worth of every human being, from conception to death, as unique image-bearers of God” and “affirm chastity among the unmarried and the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman.” The statement also addresses aspects of personal character, such as being a person of integrity and avoiding immodesty, and expects signers to regard the Bible as “the infallible Word of God, completely inspired and authoritative, and is to govern Christians in every aspect of life and conduct.” Located in the town of Montreat near Asheville, the college has only 876 students. It was run for many years by an association affiliated with the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA) but became nondenominational more than a decade ago. The school is a member of the conservative Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Billy Graham and his late wife Ruth were married in the college’s chapel, which now bears their name, according to the Charlotte Observer.…
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The missions board of the Alabama Baptist Convention has formed a committee to work with Samford University in the wake of the faculty voting to give official recognition to an LGBT student group. Samford is a Southern Baptist school in suburban Birmingham. Final approval of the LGBT group is up to the school’s board of trustees. The board is not expected to formally consider the matter until fall. Called Samford Together, the group provides a forum for students who want to discuss sexual orientation and gender identity “in an open-minded and accepting environment,” according to the school’s website. Some supporters of the group say it is more about discussion than advocacy. But leaders of the Alabama Baptist Convention and its missions board say they are worried about the group promoting ideas that go against Scripture. At a May 12 missions board meeting, convention president John Thweatt presented an open letter to Alabama Baptists saying the convention wants to maintain a good relationship with Samford but also expects the school to hold to biblical teachings. “We care deeply about Samford University and its future. We care about its leadership, trustees, faculty and students,” the letter said. “We also believe in the full…
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The faculty at Samford University in Alabama has voted to give official recognition to a pro-LGBT student organization. The full faculty at the Baptist school voted April 27 to recommend approval of Samford Together, a student group that would offer a forum for discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in “an open-minded and accepting environment,” reports Baptist Press. The recommendation could have “serious implications” for the ties between the university and the Alabama Baptist Convention, according to a joint statement by the convention president and the executive director of its state board of missions. The statement said approval of such a group would go against Scripture. Meanwhile, Samford President Andrew Westmoreland is trying to find middle ground. He told the faculty before the vote that he holds to the biblical view of marriage between a man and a woman and said many of Samford’s constituents believe the same. Yet he did not take a position on Samford Together, according to the Baptist Press. “As you hear me today, some of you may be disappointed by my unwillingness to completely embrace contemporary views of human sexuality and the theology that is used to undergird them,” Westmoreland said in his remarks…
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The top court of the United Methodist Church has ruled that the consecration of an openly gay bishop violates church law but the bishop for now still has her job. In a somewhat convoluted decision, the judicial council, convening in Newark, New Jersey, said that Karen Oliveto “remains in good standing” pending the completion of another administrative or judicial process, according to a UMC news story. The decision, made public on Friday, said, “It is not lawful for the college of bishops of any jurisdictional or central conference to consecrate a self-avowed practicing homosexual bishop.” Oliveto was consecrated in July 2016 by officials in the Western Jurisdiction. She is the episcopal leader for an area covering Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and one church in Idaho. A church lay member from Kansas in the South Central Jurisdiction formally challenged Oliveto’s elevation to bishop. The denomination’s high court rejected an argument from the Western Jurisdiction counsel made during an oral hearing last week that Oliveto’s same-sex marriage in 2014 to another woman was not a public statement about her sexual practices. “A same-sex marriage license issued by competent civil authorities together with the clergy person’s status in a same-sex relationship is a public…
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Members of an LGBT group at Belmont University were upset recently with a documentary shown on campus that promoted biblical sexual ethics, an event also criticized by the university provost. The documentary and a discussion that followed on April 6 were sponsored by University Catholic, another group at the Christian liberal arts college in Nashville. Called “Desire of the Everlasting Hills,” the film relates the story of three people with same-sex attraction who used to be part of the LGBT world but now practice chastity because of their Christian faith. One member of Bridge Builders, the campus LGBT group, told the student newspaper Belmont Vision, that Belmont “has been very accepting as of late” but that this event made Belmont “look really bad.”Another said, “We were just appalled by the documentary.” Both told the student newspaper that they are Catholics themselves. Several students were also upset with comments made following the film by psychologist Stephen Hopkins who described circumstances in a child’s upbringing that could contribute to same-sex attraction and said homosexual relationships are inherently more unstable than heterosexual ones. Members of the LGBT group were angered that university leaders allowed the film to be shown without first consulting with LGBT…
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The United Methodist Church appears once more to be on the verge of a split over LGBT issues. The mainline Protestant denomination, which has a large presence in Tennessee, has experienced internal divisions for years over homosexuality, but tensions are at a fever pitch with the elevation of the first openly gay bishop. The UMC’s top court in Newark, New Jersey, heard arguments this week in the case of lesbian Karen Oliveto, who was elected as bishop last July for an area which includes Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and a church in Idaho. The area is in the denomination’s Western Jurisdiction. Oliveto is married to a woman who is a UMC deaconess. Oliveto’s election was contested by a church lay member from Kansas in the South Central Jurisdiction whose legal representative maintained Tuesday that homosexual practice is incompatible with the denomination’s book of discipline. However, a representative for Oliveto’s Western Jurisdiction argued that someone from another region has no standing to bring a case and that the book of discipline does not specifically prohibit same-sex marriage, according to a UMC news story about the hearing. The United Methodist Queer Clergy Caucus on April 16 sent an open letter to the UMC in…
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Liberty Counsel has put a school district in Florida on notice that unless it stops the actions of a lesbian teacher promoting LGBT activism and discriminating against Christian students, the nonprofit group will pursue legal action. The high school math teacher in the Tampa area has placed LGBT rainbow stickers on students’ notebooks and has prohibited Christian jewelry, Liberty Counsel said in a news release April 20. Lora Jane Riedas teaches at Riverview High School, part of Hillsborough County Public Schools. Her lesbian partner teaches at the same school and for school spirit week dressed as a nun and tweeted that she has “a bad habit” and the point is be “creepy,” the news release said. Claiming Christian cross necklaces are gang symbols, Riedas has prohibited at least three students from wearing them. In addition to being told to stop wearing her cross necklace, a ninth-grade student and client of Liberty Counsel faced several accusations of misbehavior after she removed the LGBT rainbow sticker from her class notebook, according to Liberty Counsel. Riedas is part of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) Leadership Institute. “The bullying behavior of Lora Jane Riedas is outrageous and unconstitutional,” said Liberty Counsel chairman…
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The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), perhaps best known as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding scandal, issued a statement denouncing Tennessee state senator Mark Green’s nomination to serve as President Donald Trumps Secretary of the Army. CAIR – who forcefully label people and groups with whom they disagree with the Muslim Brotherhood term, “Islamophobic” – announced its opposition to Green’s confirmation due to past remarks and policy positions. Offered as proof of his “Islamophobia,” CAIR’s statement included a laundry-list of quotes by Sen. Green, apparently all from a single appearance at a Chattanooga Tea Party meeting last year. Perhaps most interesting about the pro-Islamic organization’s statement is at the end, with its acknowledgment and alignment with LGBT advocates against Green: Other groups are opposing Green’s confirmation because of his criticism of federal attempts to bar discrimination in workplaces and businesses. SEE: L.G.B.T. Advocates Criticize Nominee for Army Secretary State Sen. Mark Green is a medical doctor, West Point graduate, and a career military veteran with a distinguished record of service. He is a staunch advocate for limited government, secure borders, and fiscal responsibility. Before being tapped for the Army Secretary position, Green was strongly considering a run for…
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A Canadian publisher that markets in the U.S. has come out with a new book and teacher resource guide on “transphobia” that target children as young as nine. The materials reflect the intensity of the efforts on the part of radical progressives to overturn traditional and biblical ideas about gender and relationships. Published by Lorimer and titled Transphobia: Deal with it and be a gender transcender is one in a series of books carrying the phrase Deal with it. The books address resolving conflict related to a range of issues, including image, anxiety, bullying and cliques. The series is designed for children ages nine through 12, according to the Transphobia teacher resource guide. There also is a book in the series called Homophobia: Deal with it and turn prejudice into pride. Transphobia is authored by J. Wallace Skelton, who works for the Toronto District School Board’s Gender Based Violence Prevention Office. On his Twitter page, he identifies himself as a “queer trans.” In an email sent by Lorimer to potential customers, Skelton is described as “an educator, activist and writer.” “For more than a decade he has worked in schools to make them safer and more celebratory places for people of all sexual orientations and gender…
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For immigration activists, the fight against President Trump kicked into high gear in December before he took office. That’s when Nashville was the host city for the annual National Immigrant Integration Conference, drawing groups from across the country to the Omni Hotel. Speakers at the event made repeated calls to unite with other progressive causes in the name of social justice. The list of allies they highlighted included Planned Parenthood, LGBT activists and activists for racial and ethnic minorities. The conference was co-hosted by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA). The conference featured a screening of Forbidden, a documentary about a young undocumented gay man growing up in the rural south. Moises Serrano, the Mexican-born subject of the film, is involved in the UndocuQueer movement and his mission is “to unite the immigration and LGBTQ movements, seeing them both as a struggle for human rights.” That human rights continuum also includes a progressive version of racial justice. An activist with the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) said that African-Americans are still fighting for full citizenship in the U.S., making immigrants their natural allies. The group’s website says, “Everyday, people of color in the United States are being criminalized…
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