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Community Advocates Speak Out as 18 Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills Are Heard in Legislature

Photo: Cecilie Johnsen | Unsplash

As a slate of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is headed to the Tennessee legislature this week, community leaders and advocates are speaking out.

For the week of March 4th, 18 pieces of legislation are scheduled for hearings in the Tennessee General Assembly. 

“Legislation before House and Senate committees this week targets diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, makes it easier to ban books, and attempts to legalize discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” leaders said in a statement prior to the meeting.

Molly Whitehorn, regional campaign director for the Human Rights Campaign, said the state currently leads the way on “discriminatory trends” in the country.

“It has passed more anti-LGBTQ+ laws than any other state, with more than a dozen passed since 2015,” Whitehorn said. “This week alone we are seeing discriminatory adoption bans, gender-affirming care bans, a bill to dissolve the Human Rights Commission with no wind-down period, and even a bill revising K-12 non-discrimination policies moving through the legislature.”

Opponents of the proposed legislation, including Whitehorn, held a press conference over Zoom to condemn the upcoming bills and explain the harm that previous laws have caused.

Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis) called this upcoming week “alarming for our democracy,” as these bills represent a continued attack on LGBTQ+ people in the state. He also said there are more pressing issues that lawmakers should be concerned with, such as poverty and housing.

“The reality is that in this legislature, division and separation and othering of communities is what is consistently causing pain, hurt, and heartache to our most marginalized communities,” Pearson said. “It’s hard to be on the House floor and see people talking about banning pride flags, but not talk about banning assault weapons that are killing children across our state and across our country.

Molly Quinn, executive director of OUTMemphis, said it’s “astonishing” that the LGBTQ+ community has to continuously defend themselves against attacks such as the list of proposed bills to be heard this week.

“That means there is no other single subject receiving this much attention in the halls of our legislative branch this week,” Quinn said. “There are so many essential issues affecting communities in Tennessee right now, and we need our lawmakers to be focusing on what our communities truly need and not using these bullying tactics to distract from other social problems.”

Quinn said the effects of these bills “trickle down into the community,” explaining that the effects of discriminatory bills last year caused more young people to reach out to OUTMemphis than ever before, as many had faced discrimination in school settings. Quinn added they had a “three times” increase of people reaching out to their emergency services.

“It was unlike anything we had ever seen,” said Quinn. 

Quinn said attacks on the transgender community reached “unprecedented political levels” last year. In the previous session, the Tennessee legislature passed legislation that made it illegal for healthcare providers to administer puberty blockers and other forms of gender-affirming care to minors. 

Another attack targeting transgender people in the state involved the dismissal of a lawsuit which would have allowed individuals to change their gender markers on their birth certificate. As a result of this, TaMesha Kaye Prewitt, transgender service manager for OUTMemphis, said she went into “emergency response mode” after this decision. She said her community is “exhausted and brokenhearted” by the continuous attacks by the Tennessee legislature. 

“I live and work alongside a community of courageous trans individuals, but we are fed up and see the harms of these bills,” said Kaye Prewitt. “Each time these bills become law, we see the real impact up close on families and individuals.”

The Tennessee Equality Project has dubbed these bills the “Slate of Hate,” and a full list and description can be found here.

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Memphis Gaydar News

LGBTQ Advocate: Lawsuit Challenging Transgender Bathroom Law Was ‘Morally Imperative’

Credit: The Creative Exchange / Unsplash

The Tennessee law that bans transgender students from using the restroom that matches their gender identity is a “classic example of discrimination,” said the head of a Tennessee-based LGBTQ advocacy group. 

Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP), said The Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act (also known as the School Facilities Law), signed by Governor Bill Lee in May, unfairly takes away transgender students’ basic rights. 

“Whenever you tell a group of students they need to use a separate restroom, you are telling them that they are different and what they are entitled to is different as a result,” Sanders said. “When it’s done by an official government entity, then that is the government carrying out that discrimination.”

TEP, which advocates for the equal rights of LGBTQ people in Tennessee, helped find plaintiffs for a lawsuit recently filed by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) that seeks to block the law from being enforced. 

Federal district court judge Eli Richardson denied HRC’s motion for a preliminary injunction last week, citing an “unreasonable delay in filing the lawsuit.” The court will now conduct a hearing on the motion. A date for the hearing has not yet been set. 

Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, Sanders said “it was the right thing to do.” 

“For us and for HRC, it was morally imperative to do this,” Sanders said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I think there’s a good chance the law will be struck down.” 

Sanders said for years the far right has been pushing bathroom bills targeting the transgender community that serve “as a way of whipping up fear about transgender people.” 

The School Facilities law is “dehumanizing” and “stigmatizing,” he said. 

“It’s a divisive tactic,” Sanders said. “The law says to everyone that there is something wrong with trans people and that you shouldn’t share the bathroom with them. Trans people just want to use the bathroom in peace like everyone else.”

“Trans people just want to use the bathroom in peace like everyone else.”

By passing the law, the leaders of the state are sending a message that they don’t understand transgender youth, Sanders said. That lack of understanding leads to harmful policies like the bathroom law.

“That’s a really destructive message,” Sanders said. “When your government not only doesn’t care about you, but is willing to go to great lengths to pass laws attacking you, it’s the worst kind of message you could send to youth.” 

Instead of passing anti-transgender laws, Sanders said Tennessee legislators should focus on passing laws that are trans-affirming, prohibiting discrimination in housing, education, and employment. He adds that dscrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation needs to be banned under state law and that there needs to be a comprehensive anti-bullying policy for students at the state level. 

“There are a lot of changes that could be made at the state level to protect LGBTQ youth, but the state is unfortunately not moving in that direction,” Sanders said. 

Compounding the Struggle 

Dr. KT Hiestand, a licenced psychologist who specializes in treatment for LGBTQ individuals in Memphis, said navigating life can already be a challenge for transgender youth without the addition of discriminatory laws. 

Dr. KT Hiestand

Many transgender youth struggle with gender dysphoria, which is the medical term for the discomfort one feels about their body because of features that do not match their gender identity. For example, a transgender boy might be uncomfortable with having a high-pitched voice or the development of breasts. 

Gender dysphoria is known to lead to depression and anxiety, Hiestand said. Transgender youth, especially in the South, also often struggle to find support for their identity. Trans youth are kicked out of their family homes and become homeless at much higher rates than their peers, he said. Trangender youth also are 40 percent more likely than their peers to attempt suicude. 

“Laws like the bathroom one adds to the negative experience that trans youth are already having,” Hiestand said. “It can be enough to push them over the edge.”

It can be enough to push them over the edge.

Hiestand said the law can also create a mistrust in government among transgender youth. 

“Think of a kid who has gone through some real struggles with first trying to figure out themselves and then coming out, but who has made progress,” he said. “Now, it feels like the government is out to get them. It’s really scary and it affects their ability to trust government authority.”

Under the law, trans students who do not want to use the restroom matching their gender assigned at birth are required to use a single-occupancy restroom. This often means using a restroom in a teacher’s lounge or another isolated restroom. 

“The problem with this is that it sets them apart from other students,” Hiestand said. “It’s not a positive feeling being different from all of your peers.”

Additionally, this can be logistically challenging, Hiestand said. As a result, many trangender students will avoid using the bathroom when they are at school by not drinking anything during the school day. This sets them up for a slew of medical issues, he said.  

The other option for trangender students is to use a restroom that “feels completely wrong to them.” This is mentally harmful and can potentially be physically harmful, Hiestand said. 

“Transgender youth are not here to cause problems for people in the restroom,” he said. “They simply want to get in, do their business, and get out.”

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Memphis Gaydar News

Tennessee Sued Over Anti-Transgender Bathroom Law

(Credit: Bianca Phillips)

An LGBTQ advocacy group filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee earlier this week, challenging a bathroom bill that restricts transgender students’ use of school restrooms. 

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) filed the lawsuit in the District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on behalf of two transgender children. 

The lawsuit alleges that the Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act (also known as the School Facilities Law), signed by Governor Bill Lee in May, “unfaily discriminates against transgender children.”

“By singling out transgender students for disfavored treatment and explicitly writing discrimination against transgender people into State law, the School Facilities Law violates the most basic guarantees of equal protection under the U.S. Constitution and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972,” the lawsuit reads. 

The lawsuit further argues that the law endangers the safety, privacy, security, and well-being of transgender students through “intentional and inherent discrimination.” 

“The law invites potential harassment and assault of non-transgender students who may not fit gender expectations or stereotypes associated with their gender identity by giving private persons a right of action to sue under the Law, and thereby encouraging independent policing of everyone who uses a multi-occupancy restroom,” the lawsuit reads. 

The lawsuit seeks to block the state from enforcing the law, while requiring that the plaintiffs, along with other students, are allowed to use multi-occupancy restrooms matching their gender identity. 

HRC president Alphonso David calls the law in question “morally reprehensible” and “devoid of any sound legal justification.” 

“Courts have time-and-time again ruled against these dangerous and discriminatory laws and we are going to fight in court to strike down this one and protect the civil rights of transgender and non-binary young people,” David said in a press release. “With our representation of two transgender kids today, we are sending a strong message of support for all transgender and non-binary children across the country [that] you matter, and your legal rights should be respected.” 

The law being challenged is one of five targeting transgender students signed into law this year in Tennessee. Together, the laws prevent transgender students from participating in high school and middle school sports, prevent physicians from prescribing hormone treatment for prepubertal transgender youth, require public schools to notify parents before offering any curriculum about sexual orientation and gender identity, and require businesses with bathrooms open to the public to post a notice at the entrance of each public restroom if the business allows transgender individuals to use the restrooms corresponding with their gender identity. 

This is the second lawsuit filed in response to one of these laws. The first, filed in May by the American Civil Liberties Union, challenges the Business Bathroom Bill, which requires businesses to post signs if they allow transgender customers to use multi-occupancy restrooms. A federal judge has preliminarily blocked the law from being implemented. 

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TN AG: New Anti-Discrimination Guidelines Give Too Much to LGBTQ+ Community

Credit: Human Rights Campaign

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery is leading an effort by 20 U.S. state attorneys general against new anti-discrimination guidelines created by the Biden administration. The group claim the new regulations were created unfairly and go too far in giving leeway to the LGBTQ+ community. 

In a letter to President Joe Biden, the attorneys general criticize an executive order that implements a U.S. Supreme Court anti-discrimination ruling that went unheeded by the Trump administration. 

Biden’s order states “all persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation.” The Human Rights Council (HRC) called it the “most substantive, wide-ranging LGBTQ executive order in U.S. history.” 

The order prohibits discrimination in the workplace, including hiring, termination, promotion, conditions of employment, benefits, and harassment. The HRC explained “for example: a bisexual woman cannot be fired from her job just because her employer learned of her sexual orientation, and a transgender man cannot be forced to wear a women’s uniform at his place of employment.”

The ruling prohibits discrimination at all federally funded educational programs, including K-12, vocational programs, and higher education programs. The HRC explained, “for example: a gay student can’t be prohibited from going to his public high school’s prom just because his date is also a boy, and a transgender girl cannot be harassed by a teacher who refuses to use her correct name because it is a feminine name.”

The order also prohibits discrimination in housing, federally funded healthcare programs (like the Affordable Care Act), and in the issuance of credit, including loans and credit cards. 

Guidance on how to enforce the order came from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Education in mid-June. Slattery and the other AGs say the new guidelines “attempt to force radical changes on nearly every employer and school across the nation.” 

Slatery

The AGs criticize Biden for ”unilaterally plunging ahead with these sweeping dictates.” No public hearings were held and the guidance document “simply appeared.” This subverted democracy as ”the states and other affected institutions and individuals have been excluded from any discussion.”

No longer, according to the Department of Education, will schools be allowed to preserve the privacy of middle school and high school students by ensuring they can use sex-specific showers, locker rooms, and restrooms.

Statement from Slatery’s office

Further, they claim the guidance goes further than the Supreme Court’s ruling, which, according to the AGs, “explicitly refrained from addressing ‘sex-segregated bathrooms, locker rooms, and dress codes” at school or work. 

The administration’s order says “children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.” (Slatery once sued the Obama Administration after it issued guidance on transgender students and bathrooms.) 

”No longer, according to the Department of Education, will schools be allowed to preserve the privacy of middle school and high school students by ensuring they can use sex-specific showers, locker rooms, and restrooms,” reads the statement form Slatery’s office.

The new guidelines also warn that using incorrect pronouns for a person may be discriminatory and have legal implications. 

“If an employer fires an employee because that person was identified as male at birth, but uses feminine pronouns and identifies as a female, the employer is taking action against the individual because of sex since the action would not have been taken but for the fact the employee was originally identified as male,” reads the guidelines.

The AGs took aim at this, too, claiming the ”First Amendment protects the right to ascribe pronouns to others based on their sex.” 

They claim the “First Amendment protects the right to ascribe pronouns to others based on their sex.” 

“With respect to pronouns, the EEOC’s guidance comes across as an effort to leverage the authority of the federal government to chill protected speech disfavored by [the Biden] administration,” they wrote.

Alphonso David, president of the HRC, said the ruling has been “transformative.”

“The Bostock ruling was a landmark moment in the on-going fight for LGBTQ equality — no one should be denied a job, excluded from benefits, harassed or fired simply because of who they are or whom they love,” he said in statement in June. “It has been transformative for the LGBTQ community to know we have the right to be ourselves in the workplace.” 

The letter was led by Slatery and signed by the AGs of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia.

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Anti-Transgender Bills “Crushing,” “Unconscionable”

Transgender 8th-grader Adam, right, and his mother, Amy Allen, talk about how anti-transgender bills in Tennessee affect their lives.

Transgender 8th-grader Adam, right, and his mother, Amy Allen, talk about how anti-transgender bills in Tennessee affect their lives. (Source: Human Rights Campaign)

Anti-transgender bills continue to progress through the Tennessee House and Senate, bills some say are part of a national effort by ”opponents of LGBTQ equality across the nation.”

Three bills now moving through the committee processes in Nashville target transgender children, specifically. One would mandate student athletes to play on the team ”determined by the student’s sex at the time of the student’s birth.” Another would stop sexual identity change therapy to minors who have not yet entered puberty, something at least one physician said is not happening at all in the state currently. A last bill would, again, mandate transgender students use the bathroom determined by the sex listed on their birth certificates. 

Cathryn Oakley, the state legislative director of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), said during a press call Thursday that bills like this pose economic costs “from the inevitable litigation that” would follow their passage. There’s also a reputation cost for states like Tennessee that “persist — and Tennessee does persist — in innovating anti-transgender legislation.” But Oakley said such bills have a human cost.

“We also see the harm these bills perpetrate even when they’re just introduced,” she said. “Even if they’re not passed into law, the harm that folks go through watching their legislators debate the existence of trans youth is crushing.”

Even if they’re not passed into law, the harm that folks go through watching their legislators debate the existence of trans youth is crushing.

Cathryn Oakley

One Tennessee transgender youth, Adam, spoke during the HRC’s press call and said he’s a “pretty normal kid” that likes video games, music, and art. The Mt. Juliet 8th-grader used to go to a public middle school and was offered the bathrooms in the nurses office, the guidance office, or the faculty bathroom. They were not close to his classes, he said, and using them just made him stand out more “and alienated me further.” 

“So, I started not to drink anything during the day and holding it until I got home,” said Adam, who did not give his last name during the news conference. “Everyone goes to the bathroom. So, why should it be more difficult for trans kids who already have enough to worry about?”

Dr. Kristin Rager, a pediatrician in Nashville, said she cares for a number of transgender patients. She opposes the legislation that intervenes in health care and said there is “zero evidence to suggest there are dangers within our current system of care in Tennessee.” 

Rager busted some transgender myths on the call. No one is performing sex reassignment surgeries on the genitals of anyone under 18, she said. Transgender kids that have not hit puberty are not being treated with hormones or hormone blockers. However, those treatments are “safe, effective, and fully reversible” in youths that have started puberty. 

“These bills that are being introduced are and attempt to criminalize parents — these wonderful parents and their pediatricians — over lawmaker concerns that are, frankly, unfounded,” Rager said. 

Bills like the ones in Tennessee have been filed in state houses across the country said, Hannah Willard, the vice president of government affairs for Freedom for All Americans. They amount to the “worst attack on transgender people in recent memory.” 

These bills come from a “small but vocal group of organizations” pushing to chip away at LGBTQ equality, Willard said. These groups include the Heritage Foundation, Alliance Defending Freedom, Eagle Forum, and more, according to the HRC. 

“These bills are to spread myths and lies about who transgender people are and it’s unconscionable that transgender youth are in the crosshairs of this legislation,” Willard said.

Watch the full press call here:

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Memphis Gaydar News

Report Scores Memphis Businesses on LGBTQ Equality

Credit: Memphis Pride Fest

Memphis Pride Fest

The Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) annual Corporate Equality Index included four of Memphis’ biggest companies and a law firm. Two of the corporations scored towards the top, with one scoring in the middle and another toward the bottom.

The HRC claims it is “the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization.” Its report reviewed 1,059 companies and law firms this year. That included 25 Tennessee-based businesses. In Memphis, five companies were deemed large enough for review by the Human Rights Campaign.

Of those here, the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC scored the highest with 90 out of 100 points possible. FedEx Corp. scored high, too, with an overall equality score of 85. First Horizon National Corp. also scored near the top with 75 total points.

AutoZone Inc. scored near the middle with 40 total points. International Paper had the lowest Memphis score on the report with 30 total points.

All of these points were awarded to companies based on four broad criteria:

• Non-discrimination policies

• Employment benefits

• Supporting an inclusive culture and corporate social responsibility including public commitment to LGBTQ equality

• Responsible citizenship

”These companies know that protecting their LGBTQ employees and customers from discrimination is not just the right thing to do — it is also the best business decision,” HRC president Alphonso David said in a statement. “In addition, many of these leaders are also advocating for the LGBTQ community and equality under the law in the public square.”
[pullquote-1] HRC began its report in 2002, done largely through a survey of Fortune magazine’s 500 largest publicly traded businesses, American Lawyer magazine’s top 200 revenue-grossing law firms and hundreds of publicly and privately held mid- to large-sized businesses.

In its first year, HRC named 13 top-rated companies. This year, the group named 686 such businesses that had a perfect 100 score ”under the most stringent criteria to date.”

This year, 13 to the Fortune 500’s top 20 companies earned perfect HRC scores.

Human Rights Campaign

Here are some more insights gleaned in this year’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI):

• The more than 680 companies that earned a 100 on the CEI represent 12.4 million employees nationally, 11.9 million globally, and earn a combined estimate of $12.9 trillion in revenue.

• Eighty-three companies participated in the CEI for the first time in 2020, with 36 debuting at a score of 100, including Etsy Inc., Peloton Interactive Inc., Stop & Shop, and Warner Music Group.

• Of all Fortune 500 companies, 93 percent have sexual orientation in their U.S. non-discrimination policy, and 91 percent have gender identity.

• The average CEI score for all Fortune 500 companies increased from 67 to 71 in the past year — with actively participating Fortune 500 companies having an average score of 90, up from 88 last year.

• Tennessee companies averaged a score of 70 in this year’s CEI.

• This year 89 percent of companies participating in the CEI offer at least one health-care policy that is inclusive of their transgender workers.

Read the full report here:
[pdf-1]

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Memphis Gaydar News

Memphis Law Firm Gets Perfect Score in Equality Index, AutoZone Scores Low

A Memphis law firm, FedEx, and First Horizon scored well in this year’s Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equality Index, while International Paper and AutoZone fell toward the bottom of the list.

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC scored a perfect 100, making it one of only two major corporations and/or law firms in Tennessee with a perfect score. The other was Nissan North America Inc. in Franklin.

That means the company prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, has vendor/contractor standards that don’t discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity, offers partner health insurance, has other “soft” benefits for partners, offers transgender-inclusive health coverage, has organizational competency programs, has a firm-wide diversity council or LGBT employee group, and positively engages the external LGBT community.

FedEx scored high with an 85 percent. The main thing that kept FedEx from scoring higher was its lack of transgender-inclusive healthcare coverage. First Horizon Corp. also scored an 85 percent. 

International Paper scored a 25 percent, and AutoZone scored a 10 percent. The only LGBT-friendly policy at AutoZone is one prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In total, 851 companies across the country were officially rated in the 2016 index, up from 781 in the 2015 report. The average score for companies and law firms based in Tennessee is 69 percent. Of the 12 Tennessee companies ranked, two earned 100 percent, and four earned 80 percent or above.

“Corporate America has long been a leader on LGBT equality, from advocating for marriage equality to expanding essential benefits to transgender employees,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “But this year, many leading U.S. companies have broken new ground by expanding explicit non-discrimination protections to their LGBT workers around the globe. They’ve shown the world that LGBT equality isn’t an issue that stops at our own borders, but extends internationally.”

To see the full index, go here.

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Memphis Gaydar News

Tennessee Scores Low On New HRC State Equality Index

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Tennessee is one of 32 states lacking state-level workplace protections for all LGBT employees, and it’s one of 14 states that still doesn’t allow same-sex marriage. Those issues led to Tennessee ranking in the lowest-performing category on the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) inaugural State Equality Index.

The national report, the first of its kind, looked at each state’s LGBT-related legislation, and it highlights the fact that, although marriage equality is progressing nationally, many states still lack basic non-discrimination protections.

“Despite historic progress on issues like marriage equality, a majority of states still struggle to reach even a basic level of equality for LGBT people,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Most states lack statewide non-discrimination laws to protect LGBT people – putting countless individuals and families at risk, and creating inequalities in adoption and surrogacy, employments benefits, and youth safety and well-being.”

“Even worse,” Griffin said, “equality opponents continue to push deeply harmful laws forward, including those seeking to undermine critical protections in the guise of “religious liberty.”

The index assessed state legislation in the areas of relationship recognition, parenting laws and policies, non-discrimination laws, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying laws, and health and safety laws and policies. Based on that review, the index assigns states to one of four categories, and Tennessee, along with 29 other states, fell into the “High Priority to Achieve Basic Equality” category, the lowest-performing category in the study.

Tennessee scored well in the areas of joint adoption, hate crimes protection (but only for sexual orientation, not gender identity), and cyberbulling laws. The state received negative scores for its ban on same-sex marriage, the state religious freedom restoration act, restrictions on municipal protections for LGBT employees, HIV/AIDS criminalization laws, transgender exceptions in state Medicaid, and the fact that transgender citizens are not permitted to change their gender on state IDs (Tennessee is the only state that bans that).

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Memphis Gaydar News

FedEx Scores High, AutoZone Scores Low on Equality Index

The Human Rights Campaign’s 2015 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) assessed LGBT inclusion in a number of major companies and law firms in Memphis. 

The CEI ranks companies on a scale of 1 (worst) to 100 (best) based on non-discrimination policies, employment benefits, demonstrated organizational competency and accountability around LGBT diversity and inclusion, public commitment to LGBT equality, and responsible citizenship.

Memphis-based FedEx Corp. and local law firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz tied with for high scores of 85, while AutoZone Corp. received a low score of 15.

FedEx’s non-discrimination policy covers sexual orientation and gender identity. They offer domestic partner benefits, and their insurance covers transgender health benefits, such as hormone therapy and short-term leave after surgical procedures. They have an LGBT employee group, and they actively market to LGBT consumers.

AutoZone does have a non-discrimination policy regarding sexual orientation, but gender identity is not covered. The company also fails to offer domestic partner benefits, and it lacks an LGBT employee group.

Other Memphis companies on the list scored as follows: First Horizon National Corp. (75), Unum Group (60), and International Paper (45).

Nationally, a record 366 businesses scored perfect 100s. The only Tennessee company to score a 100 was Nissan North America, Inc. in Smyrna. 

“When it comes to LGBT equality, Corporate America is a leader, not a follower,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “At every turn, from advocating for marriage equality to providing vital support for transgender employees, this country’s leading companies have asked, ‘what more can we do?,’ and they’ve worked tirelessly to achieve new progress. That kind of leadership changes countless lives around this country, and sets an important example to other companies around the globe.”

            

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Memphis Scores Low on HRC Equality Index

CREDIT: Human Rights Campaign

Memphis scored 46 points out of a possible 100 points on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2014 Municipal Equality Index, which rates major cities on LGBT inclusion in municipal law and policy.

The city scored well in the area of non-discrimination in city employment, since Memphis city government has a policy protecting its gay and transgender workers. We also got positive points for having an LGBT liaison in the Memphis Police Department and for having anti-bullying policies. The city scored bonus points for providing services and support for people living with HIV and AIDS and bonus points for having a inclusive workplace in municipal governments. Mayor A C Wharton’s administration was recognized for for having a public position on LGBT equality, but the administration received no points in the category of leadership on public policy that would positively effect LGBT equality.

Cities were rated on 47 total criteria, including non-discrimination laws, relationship recognition, a municipality’s employment policies (including transgender-inclusive insurance coverage, contracting non-discrimination requirements, and other policies relating to equal treatment of LGBT city employees), inclusiveness of city services, law enforcement, and municipal leadership on matters of equality.

The average score for Tennessee was 39 out of 100 points: Chattanooga got 23 points; Clarksville received 14 points; Knoxville got 36 points; and Nashville scored the highest in the state with a 75.

Click here to view the Human Rights Campaign’s 2014 Municipal Equality Index and see Memphis’ scorecard.

Human Rights Campaign

A map of cities included on the 2014 Human Rights Campaign Municipality Equality Index