I am in fact tired of being political. I'd like to write something about knitting. Or puppies. But the Tennessee state legislature is at it again, promoting HB0800 on to the next round of consideration, and this is so completely wrong I can't be quiet about it.

If you would, and particularly if you are a resident of Tennessee, please please please email or call your legislators about this. They need to know how you feel. One thing I learned in my trip to Nashville last week is that there's a sort of conservative echo-chamber going on, and the members inside it really do believe they're speaking for most Tennesseans--or, at least, most of the Tennesseans who count.

We don't want to live in a world filled with hate. Do you remember back when the legality of gay marriage was being debated? There were a lot of "slippery slope" arguments about how it would lead to increased crime and depravity and licentiousness.  Seven years later, it's clear that legalizing gay marriage actually led to--surprise!--gay people becoming legally married. That's it. It lead to an increase in the bonds that strengthen society. 

You can't find a single quote in the Bible where Jesus says anything about homosexuality. But Jesus does say, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." (Matt. 7-1)

Here's the letter I sent out today:

Dear Representatives of the House Calendar and Rules Committee,

I write to strongly protest HB0800. Here is the text of the bill:

WHEREAS, Tennessee public schools should focus student attention on academic curricula critical for student success, such as reading, science, and mathematics; and WHEREAS, textbooks and instructional materials and supplemental instructional materials are essential to students receiving a full and complete education; and WHEREAS, textbooks and instructional materials and supplemental instructional materials that promote, normalize, support, or address controversial social issues, such as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender (LGBT) lifestyles are inappropriate; and WHEREAS, the promotion of LGBT issues and lifestyles in public schools offends a significant portion of students, parents, and Tennessee residents with Christian values; and WHEREAS, the promotion of LGBT issues and lifestyles should be subject to the same restrictions and limitations placed on the teaching of religion in public schools; now, therefore, BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE: SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 22, is amended by adding the following as a new section: Notwithstanding § 49-6-2201(h)(9)(B), the commission shall not recommend or list, the state board shall not approve for local adoption or grant a waiver pursuant to § 49-6-2206, and LEAs and public charter schools shall not locally adopt or use in the public schools of this state, textbooks and instructional materials or supplemental instructional materials that promote, normalize, support, or address lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) issues or lifestyles.

1. "Supplemental materials" means any book in the school library, grades PK-12. This bill would prohibit any mention of LGBT people in any way. This is clearly discriminatory and unconstitutional.

2. That gay and trans people exist is not a controversial social issue.

2.  According to Pew Research center, 70% of all Americans, including 29% of white Evangelical Protestants, supported gay marriage as of 2021. "Christian values" do not necessarily include homophobia.

3. The point highlighted in green is simply ridiculous. Being LGBT is not a religion. 

This bill will stigmatize and marginalize our students who are LGBT or who have LGBT parents. Over 90% of Tennessee LGBT students already report harassment in public schools. 15% of all Tennessee high school students--straight and gay combined--made an actual suicide plan in 2019. We can not afford the toll this bill will take on our students' mental health.

People are born LGBT in the same way they are born left-handed. When my aunt was in public school in the 1950s her first-grade teacher tied her left hand to her desk because "left-handedness was the sign of the devil." Forcing my six-year-old aunt to learn to write with her right hand did not make her right-handed, but it may have contributed to the learning problems that plagued her through elementary school. Now, of course, we see "left-handedness as the sign of the devil" as both ridiculous and wrong.

Please vote no to HB0800.

Kimberly Bradley

Bristol, TN

On the Corner of MLK Jr. Street and John Lewis Way

 Last Wednesday I spoke at a Criminal Justice subcommittee meeting of the Tennessee house legislature against the book banning bill, HB1944. Seventeen people had registered to speak and submitted their comments 24 hours in advance--11 in support of book banning, 6 against. 

A few random notes: there's clearly a hidden agenda at work here. All of the book banning supporters railed against pornography in the schools, repeatedly calling librarians pedophiles and sex groomers, quoting the Bible, and claiming that everything started to go wrong in public education the moment we actually enforced the Constitution and eliminated Christian prayer in public schools. However, when you look at the books actually challenged by Moms For Liberty in Tennessee schools, most are actually along the lines of "The Story of Ruby Bridges." The only book they actually challenged at elementary level on the grounds of sexual content was "Seahorse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea," a nonfiction picture book about seahorses. Moms For Liberty felt that, because male seahorses carry the fertilized eggs and actually give birth, this opened a gateway to acceptance of transgender people. 

You can't make this shit up.

Also, of the 37 people challenging books in Williamson County elementary schools (that's just south of Nashville, an affluent, predominantly white area), only 14 actually had children enrolled in the schools.

Since all the people testifying for or against the bill were only speaking to the lawmakers present--we couldn't address each other--and since only the lawmakers could ask questions, I wasn't able to say a whole lot of what I might have liked to. Happily, I'll get another chance: I've been invited, along with fellow writer and Vanderbilt faculty member Andrew Maraniss, and Tennessee Association of School Librarians representative Lindsey Kimery, to participate in a live call-in television news show about this bill. It's on Nashville's Channel 5, Thursday, March 10th, from 7-8 Central time. (That's 8-9 EST.)

Enough people were expected that they moved the meeting into the largest hearing room, and even with that perhaps a dozen people had to stand. The discussion of the one bill lasted three hours. One of the most vocal, nearly hysterical, voices in support of book banning was Victoria Jackson. I remember watching her on Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s, and I'd love to know how she journeyed from the cast of SNL to book banning in Tennessee. 

Almost no one wore masks in the crowded space. Covid's finally going away in a lot of the country, but in east Tennessee it's still rampant, so I had my mask on. I would have taken it off when I was speaking, but someone's perfume in the room set my asthma off, and I kept coughing. I used my inhaler, and I kept my mask on, but plenty of the Moms for Liberty gave me side-eye, as though I was deliberately giving them Covid. They didn't put on masks. They just glared. 

Nashville is a five-hour drive from my home in eastern Tennessee, so I'd driven over Tuesday night. I stayed in a hotel quite close to the Capitol that was inexpensive and had rooms, and the reason for that was that it was an absolute dive. Clean enough and safe enough, but phew. But in the morning at the free breakfast buffet all the patrons were wearing suits and nice clothing and were exceptionally well groomed. Guess I wasn't the only person with business at the Capitol.

In the morning I moved my car to the parking garage across from the office building where the hearing was. I went out to the street and waited on the corner for Lindsey Kimery and for author Ruta Sepetys, who were meeting me there so we could walk in together. (If you haven't read Ruta's new book, I Must Betray You, please do so immediately. It's wonderful, and also very relevant given the situation in Ukraine.) I looked around at the lovely spring day, and noticed that I was standing at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Representative John Lewis Way. This pleased me immensely. The subcommittee vote didn't go the way I hoped--7-3 in support of putting the bill before the entire committee, which will happen next Wednesday morning--but I still feel it was a good sign.

I know I've mostly blogged about book banning, and I know it's not as intrinsically interesting a topic as the highjinks my animals are up to (the horses broke into the barn recently and ate $75 worth of horse treats. I'd stocked up because I have to mail-order these ridiculously expensive German horse muffins and I bought enough to get free shipping. And it's outlandish to feed your horse German horse muffins, but it makes my sweet mare practically purr. Though when she complained about not getting a muffin the day after she ate her share of several dozen, I wasn't nearly as sympathetic as she hoped.). However. Book banning is really important. In Tennessee right now, nearly half of our public schoolchildren get free lunch. We know that nationwide 61% of low-income children don't have any age-appropriate books at home. We know there are significant barriers to public libraries for many low-income children, particularly those living in rural areas. School libraries are our children's primary access to books. Increasing access to books is the most important factor in increasing children's academic achievement and consequent success. 

Also? Homophobia and white supremacy have no place in our schools or our society. Given the tenor of the earlier testimonies, I added a line to mine on the fly. It was this: "There are gay and transgender students in Tennessee public schools, and gay and transgender parents. Their existence is not pornographic."

There was a hiss from the room behind me. 

This is what it's about.

If you feel like watching a video of the subcommittee meeting, here's a link.

If you feel like attending the full Criminal Justice meeting where it will be decided whether this bill goes to the entire house, it's next Wednesday at 9am. If you'd like to speak, you need to email emily.hamby@capitol.tn.gov to ask to be put on the agenda, and you need to send her a precis of your remarks by 9am Tuesday.

If you'd like to comment at the call-in show on Thursday, please do.

If you'd like to email members of the Tennessee General Assembly, you can reach everyone through capitol.tn.gov.

Cheers!