Tennessee

02/01/2013
LGBT Bullying

"Protecting" LGBT Youth by Putting Them in Harm’s Way

By Chris Hampton, ACLU LGBT Project at 4:19pm

Tennessee State Senator Stacey Campfield is well known for such antics as claiming AIDS resulted from “one guy screwing a monkey” and trying to weasel his way into the state’s Black Legislative Caucus.  But perhaps Campfield’s greatest source of notoriety is the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, a nasty proposed law he’s introduced and reintroduced every chance he’s gotten during his nine years in the legislature.  In its earlier incarnations, the bill would have banned any discussion of sexuality except for heterosexuality in public schools up through the eighth grade.  This week, Campfield has brought “Don’t Say Gay” back yet again, with a misleading new name (the “Classroom Protection Act”) and a particularly disturbing new addition: The bill now seeks to require school nurses and guidance professionals to notify the parents of any student they work with who identifies as gay or questioning.

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07/18/2012
Anti-Muslim Bias

Parking Lot Prayer: Revisiting the Murfreesboro Mosque on the Eve of Ramadan

By Heather L. Weaver, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at 4:11pm

If the freedom to worship is a fundamental right under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment – and it unquestionably is – then it follows that access to a suitable place of worship is also essential.  Congress recognized as much in 2000 when it passed the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Act (RLUIPA) to redress persistent discrimination against religious institutions in the local zoning context.  But if you were to visit the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro in Tennessee during Ramadan, which starts tomorrow night, you would be hard pressed to find evidence of these legal protections.  

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04/23/2012
LGBT Bullying

Just Say "No" to "Don't Say Gay"

By Amanda Goad, LGBT Project & Anna Ziering, LGBT Project at 2:11pm

For a while, it looked as if Tennessee legislators had come to their senses and backed off the bill popularly known as "Don't Say Gay." Unfortunately, the bill is now roaring forward again, but there may still be a chance of stopping it.

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03/30/2012
Religion in Schools

"Don't Take Away Tennessee Students' Competitive Edge"

Just this week, the Tennessee legislature passed a bill that would allow public school teachers to teach creationism in addition to evolution in science classes. Gov. Bill Haslam now has less than 10 days to sign or veto the bill.

By Wesley H. Roberts, M. Ed., Tennessee biology teacher

I have been involved in evolution education for about 25 years. I am in the classroom every day and I currently teach at Hume Fogg Academic Magnet School, Tennessee's top-performing high school.

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03/16/2012
Religion in Schools

March Madness: Tennessee Legislature Takes Another Shot at Undermining Evolution Education

By Heather L. Weaver, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at 4:32pm

March may mean only one thing — the NCAA tournament — for basketball fans, but for Tennessee legislators, March means the revival of a state tradition that is not so worthy of celebration: attacking the teaching of evolution in public schools. A proposed law currently under consideration by the Tennessee legislature seeks to gut science education by purporting to give public school teachers the freedom to help students think critically about the scientific theory of evolution through a review of its "strengths" and "weaknesses."

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03/21/2011
Religion in Schools

Tennessee's Evolution Two-Step

By Heather L. Weaver, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at 11:39am

If it’s true that timing is everything in dance, then Tennessee legislators could use a few more lessons if they ever hope to perfect the evolution two-step they are performing this week. Today marks the 86th anniversary of the Butler Act, which was signed into law by Tennessee Gov. Austin Peay on March 21, 1925. The Butler Act criminalized the teaching of evolution or any other principle that "denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible" and sparked one of the most famous legal proceedings of the 20th century — what is often referred to now as the "Scopes Monkey Trial." The trial, during which biology teacher John Scopes (shown right) was defended by ACLU attorneys Clarence Darrow and Arthur Garfield Hays, captured the attention of the nation, and to this day, remains a stain on Tennessee’s public education system.

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