Tag Archives: Tennessee

The ACLU has forced the Tennessee public school system to stop blocking educational LGBT websites. Dozens of Tennessee schools have restored access to online information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, just over two weeks after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against two Tennessee school districts for unconstitutionally blocking student access to such sites. The company that …

The ACLU is demanding that Tennessee’s public schools stop blocking students from researching LGBT issues on the internet. According to the ACLU, filters at schools currently block the term “LGBT” but allow access to “ex-gay” websites. Many noted LGBT activist groups are currently blocked to students, including HRC, PFLAG, GLSEN, and GLAAD. Via press release: In its letter, the ACLU …

Jeff Miller, the former Tennessee state senator who in 2005 successfully installed that state’s ban on same-sex marriage, was arrested Wednesday for defrauding his home county in his position as tax collector. A press release from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says that Miller, 46, was indicted on one count of Official Misconduct, one count of Conspiracy to Commit Official …

Tennessee state Rep. Stacey Campfield doesn’t want teachers to be allowed to even say the word “gay” to students. Rep. Stacey Campfield said he believes the issue of homosexuality can be too complicated for young minds to understand. Campfield filed, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would essentially ban teachers from talking about the topic. “I think our teachers need …

Yesterday voters in Nashville defeated an “English First” referendum which would have made English the mandatory language for all city business. Nashville voters rejected a proposal to make English the mandatory language for all government business, easing fears that the measure could damage the city’s reputation and cost agencies millions in federal funding. With 100 percent of precincts reporting early …

A Tennessee hotel worker was told to his face last week that he was fired for being gay. And knowing that the state has no employment discrimination law that protects LGBT people, his employer dared him to sue. David Hill is looking for a new job after he said he was fired Tuesday from a former Brentwood Holiday Inn, which …

Lambda Legal has filed a federal lawsuit against the police department of Johnson City, Tennessee and its chief of police for releasing the photos of 40 men arrested in a sex sting in a public park. The suit was filed on behalf of Kenneth Giles, a nurse who was fired from his job after his picture appeared in the local …

Police won’t release the contents of the letter left by the Knoxville church shooter and the local gay church wants to know what it says. The man who ministers to East Tennessee’s largest gay and lesbian congregation says his church won’t rest easy until members know what Jim David Adkisson wrote. “The more clarity, the better,” said the Rev. Bob …

Police searching the home of Tennessee church shooter Jim David Adkisson found the following books: “Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder” by radio talk show host Michael Savage, “Let Freedom Ring” by talk show host Sean Hannity, and “The O’Reilly Factor,” by television talk show host Bill O’Reilly. I’m sure those three’s chests are swelling with pride today. Seriously. I …

Days after the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville put up a sign welcoming gays to worship, yesterday a gunman shouting “hateful words” killed two people and injured seven others during a youth performance of the musical Annie at the church. The gunman was tackled by congregants and eventually taken into police custody. Jim D. Adkisson, 58, was charged …

According to the school board of Memphis, the principal who outed two gay students did nothing wrong. You may recall last week’s story in which the ACLU demanded that Hollis F. Price Middle High School Principal Daphne Beasley be reprimanded for her actions. According to the ACLU, Beasley included the two boys on a list she posted of students thought …

The ACLU is protesting the outing of two high school students by their principal, who revealed the students’ relationship to other students and teachers, then called one of the student’s mother to reveal her son’s gayness and tell her that she would not tolerate homosexuality at her school. In a letter to school board officials in Memphis, the ACLU demanded …

After a two-week-long police sex sting netted 40 men for having sex in two Johnson City, Tennessee parks, the Johnson City Press published the names, addresses and photos of all 40 men. Among the arrested was a Baptist minister, who has now resigned. According to the story, local cruisers had dubbed a section of one of the parks as the …