As TN Senate Vote on "Don't Say Gay" Bill Nears, Protesters Gather

by Brandon Miller · 2011-05-03 15:02:00 UTC
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Last week, I blogged about the so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill, a piece of Tennessee legislation that would prohibit the discussion of sexual minorities in schools before ninth grade.

Well, I have good news and bad news. The good? The bill won't have enough time to pass the House this legislative session. The bad? The same cannot be said for the Senate.

According to Representative Bill Dunn, the sponsor of the bill in the House, the House Education Committee -- the committee responsible for vetting the bill -- has closed for the year. Unfortunately, the bill has already passed its first hurdle in the Senate, clearing a Senate committee hearing last week. There is a floor vote scheduled for Thursday.

“That's all right with me,” Stacey Campfield, author of the Senate bill, said about Dunn's statement. “He always said, 'You pass it first, then I'll pass it.' So, I'll pass it this year and he can pass it next year.”

Campfield did a radio interview recently, stating that being gay is a choice. This comes after his declaration to CNN that his bill is "neutral." Yeah, okay.

“Well, so far I haven't seen anything that's proven there's a gay gene. That has not been proven to me. I have not seen anything – you know, actually, I'm not saying it is or not, I just haven't seen anything that proves it's anything but a learned behavior," he said. "I think heterosexuality is the norm and a lot of times people learn to do different things. People do different things.”

Recognizing this man's ignorance and the general homophobic nature of this legislation, 75 people held a protest last Thursday in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Rallyers held signs saying, "It's Okay to Say Gay" and "Stand on the Side of Love." The protest lasted 30 minutes and was held across from a high school.

"I am sick and tired of the violence of body and spirit directed against people just because of who they love," Rev. Chris Buice, minister of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, said at the rally.

If you're tired,  too, and you would like to send a message to the Tennessee Senate before Thursday's vote, please sign our Change.org petition. Say gay!

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Brandon Miller is a freelance writer and editor from Toronto, Ontario.

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