An outbreak in the culture wars is erupting in Tennessee, uniting left-stream media, LGBT pressure groups and the NFL's Tennessee Titans, in addition to other corporate interests, against a conservative legislature trying to pass legislation would ensure that occupants of public restrooms use the one that correspondents with their physical gender. Legislation would also safeguard faith-based adoption agencies from discrimination charges for refusing to allow children to be adopted by same-sex couples. Naturally, biased media reports characterized the bills as "anti-LGBT."
It's a move right out of the playbook from Arizona, Indiana, Texas and other conservative states trying to put commonsense public protections into place in recent years. This tactic is also employed by the NFL, NCAA and NBA by threatening conservative states with withholding huge sporting events and thereby denying host cities of revenue from visiting fans spending money in their stadiums, hotels, restaurants and other businesses. North Carolina previously passed a bathroom bill and lost the NBA All-Star game and NCAA men's basketball tournament games.
The fear and intimidation tactics worked―again―because, as The New York Post reported in an AP story headlined "Tennessee delays anti-LGBT adoption bill":
"Tennessee lawmakers on Tuesday spiked a proposal that would have allowed faith-based adoption agencies to refuse to place children with gay parents and other families because of their religious beliefs.
"The bill had been scheduled to be debated by the GOP-majority Senate. However, at the last minute, the sponsor quietly asked for the proposal to be taken up next legislative session — essentially killing it for the year. There was no debate or explanation of why the bill was withdrawn."
Bloomberg's Erik Larson described the LGBT/corporate might lined up against the conservative legislators:
"Amazon, Alliance Bernstein, the NFL’s Tennessee Titans and Taylor Swift are among the wide swath of Nashville business interests urging lawmakers to reject a pair of anti-LGBT bills advancing quickly in the state legislature."
Opponents of the bills said the measure would give adoption agencies "free rein to discriminate against LGBT families, single parents and non-Christians," the AP report continued. AP also reported that a watered-down version of the bathroom bill passed, but, giving the LGBT forces the last word, "there’s still risk that the bill could be misused to arrest transgender people."
Fox17 of Nashville was one of the websites posting rainbow-colored images in reporting on the "anti-LGBT" bill. Every single paragraph in Jason Hall's story was against the bills, including this excerpt:
"The Tennessee Titans have released a statement through the Nashville LGBT Chamber opposing the anti-LGBT legislation pending passage in Tennessee during day three of the NFL Draft in downtown Nashville on Saturday.
“The Tennessee Titans oppose discrimination in any form. We are long-standing supporters of Tennessee Thrives. Discriminatory legislation hurts all of us. It also impacts our ability to secure events like the 2019 NFL Draft, major conventions, major athletic contests and other events that benefit our local and state economy. It also weakens our ability to recruit new business and industry to Nashville and to Tennessee. We would encourage our elected officials to keep us on a path that protects all our citizens, our growth and our economy.”
Outsports, the LGBT wing of SB Nation, called the Tennessee bills a “slate of hate” and "attempts to roll back marriage equality and punish transgender athletes, among other proposals. It is nothing more than a blatant attempt to use the rights of the LGBTQ community as a political weapon."
