Representative Justin J. Pearson and other political or law leaders hosted a discussion and Q&A on Monday, Nov. 18 about LGBTQ+ people's rights, panelists' fights for LGBTQ+ rights and the upcoming future.
Other panelists were Lucas Cameron-Vaugh who works for the Tennessee American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), UofM law professor Regina Williams, and Shahin Samiei from the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP).
The panel opened by discussing transgender healthcare. Panelist Cameron-Vaugh brought up the ongoing Supreme Court case United States v Skrmetti, which will rule on transgender healthcare.
“10 years after Obergefell v. Hodges (the case that legalized same sex marriage) and you would think we would be on something else,” said Professor Williams.
The case is out of Tennessee after they banned transgender healthcare for minors in what was described as “one of the fastest (bills) to be passed in Tennessee history,” said Samiei.
“More laws in Tennessee target LGBTQ+ people instead of crime, education, healthcare,” said Representative Pearson. “Hate shouldn’t be the first bill when one to five kids can’t eat tonight and 300,000 people are uninsured.”
According to a flyer handed out at the event, three bills that attacked the LGBTQ+ community passed and six bills that could bring harm to LGBTQ+ people passed in Tennessee. These bills often go through litigation that the state pays with taxpayer money.
“My colleague joked on the (House) floor, ‘Do you want to keep paying the ACLU for all these bad bills,’” said Representative Pearson.
“These [anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ] laws are making qualified lawyers, doctors, teachers, and more flee [Tennessee] and push Memphis and our state the wrong way,” said Samiei.
The panel also brought up employment opportunities in upcoming litigations.
“Bostock (a case banning LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination) made a difference,” said Williams.
But she described the case ruled on Title VII, but not on similarly worded Title IX, which both involve discrimination prohibition based on sex.
The litigation is ongoing and could re-enable LGBTQ+ discrimination in the workplace.
An anonymous attendee asked the panel about wanting to flee to a state controlled by Democrats to escape anti-LGBTQ+ laws predominantly pushed by Republicans.
“Don’t do it. But I get it,” said Representative Pearson. “I truly can’t fault anyone who says they need to move to a state where they are protected. Tennessee will always be a home for you because we love you. I haven’t left yet because I can’t concede this is it for Tennessee. I can’t concede the white supremacists and the homophobes, they can't win.”
The panel lastly stressed the need to build community.
“Even in the 1980s in Memphis, you had a community for LGBTQ+ people, and it helped. It doesn’t exist right now and social media has isolated us in our time of need. Now [because of social media] we can’t get away from hearing these bad things. We need to find and bring
people to support,” said Professor Williams.
“Obergefell made us complicit. [LGBTQ+ people] still need healthcare equality, economic opportunity, education [about LGBTQ+ people], and job equality,” said Samiei.
“The best resistance against the status quo is community,” said Representative Pearson.
The panel closed with Cameron-Vaugh saying that for transgender people in the room looking for healthcare, Choices (not to be confused with Life Choices) offers transgender healthcare along with Planned Parenthood.
