Unlike the war we had to fight on our end of I-65 just to narrowly get a policy passed on a 4-3 vote that cut transpeople out of it, our neighbors in Nashville passed a fully inclusive one.
A statement from the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition:
The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition is pleased to announce that last night, the Board of the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) adopted a non-discrimination policy recommended by the Metropolitan Nashville Education Association (MNEA) which includes both sexual orientation and gender identity. This makes the Nashville-Davidson County school system the first in Tennessee to ban discrimination against its gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees.
http://www.mnea.com
The MNPS joins University of Tennessee at Knoxville (December 2007) and the Tennessee board of regents (February 2008) in adopting fully inclusive non-discrimination policies.
We want to thank the MNEA, the union which represents Nashville's public school teachers, for its work in getting this policy approved by the Board. We encourage all of the remaining local school districts in Tennessee to join Nashville in adopting a similar policy. We also encourage the remaining institutions in the University of Tennessee system, along with all of Tennessee's private institutions of higher learning, to follow suit. We also hope this will lead to a fully inclusive non-discrimination policy for all of Nashville's public employees.
In addition to expanding the non-discrimination policy, the Board also voted to expand the anti-bullying and harassment policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity as well. The work on this matter has been led by the American Civil Liberties Union and its Support Student Safety Coalition. This makes the Metro Nashville Public Schools the second school district in Tennessee to adopt such a policy, joining the Knox County Schools which added sexual orientation and gender identity in 2005.
We greatly appreciate the work of everyone to ensure and safe and fair environment for students, staff anf faculty in the Metro Nashville Public Schools.
Marisa Richmond
President
