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.
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.
