CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – New protections for LGBTQ persons in hiring and contracting were approved by the City Council members Thursday, despite strong opposition from council member Wallace Redd.
These new protections are in two ordinances revising the City Code anti-discrimination measures regarding hiring and the purchasing of contracts to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
Both ordinances passed their second reading 12-1, with Redd the only council member to vote no.
“In the United States, only 27 states have no anti-LGBTQIA discrimination laws,” said councilperson Ashlee Evans, who sponsored both measures. “Tennessee has deliberately instituted laws against our community, and by ours, I mean the LGBTQIA+ community which I’m a part of. It’s important, as a governing body, to recognize our diversity and proudly stand for all of our citizens that inhabit Clarksville. We have to make sure that we are intentionally including everybody.”
Redd dismisses transgender rights
Redd spoke against the new measures, saying he doesn’t believe transgender individuals should be included in matters of civil rights.
“The Supreme Court does not make laws,” Redd told council members. “I know we live in a time where you can just say, ‘I identify as,’ or you can just change your gender on a whim, and we do have a problem with this as far as women’s sports in concerned, where men just want to go in and play because of the high cost of scholarships.”
Clarksville Now reached out to Redd on Friday, asking him to cite specific examples or sources for his information. Redd said he was unaware of any, and was primarily basing his claims on what he had read from state legislators.
At Thursday’s meeting, Redd went on to suggest protections for transgender persons could be unfair to people such as himself who do not recognize those individuals.
“This was never intended to be one of the Civil Rights Act, like race and those sort of things. That was not ever intended to be part of a protected class, just because you say you identify as something,” Redd said. “If you want to say, ‘I identify as Napoleon Bonaparte,’ I have the right to say I don’t believe it, I don’t think you really are.”
Council members respond
Redd’s comments drew sharp criticism from fellow council members.
“Their comments were extremely hurtful to the community,” Evans said. “They’re transphobic, they’re homophobic. You’re religion is a choice. Me being queer is not. Other people being queer is not a choice. You can have your own opinions. They’re wrong.”
Council member Wanda Allen said it’s a matter of fair treatment of all Clarksville citizens.
“This is not saying you have to agree or accept anything. This is saying that when this person that is transgender comes into a facility, they deserve an equal opportunity to compensation, to be able to compete for that contract, to be able to get the same terms and same conditions as anybody else, and isn’t that what all of us want when we walk into an agency?” Allen said. “We should not have to add this language, but in this society, we do because of homophobic comments that were made in this chamber tonight.”
Redd said on Friday that he “(doesn’t) believe anyone should be discriminated against for any reason.”
In response to his colleagues’ criticisms, Redd called the comments “hyperbolic” and “showboating,” saying he felt current city hiring policy provided sufficient protections for LGBTQ individuals.