ACTION ALERT - What's Next - After the Anti-LGBT Adoption Bill

ACTION ALERT

What's Next?

As you know, SB 1304 (the anti-LGBT adoption bill) passed Tuesday in the state senate and is now heading to Governor Lee’s desk where he has said he will sign it. Even though he plans to sign it you can still contact him, voice your opposition, and ask for a veto.

Passage of this bill will bring an economic impact. We will keep you updated on the extent of these. We are already aware of conferences that are pulling out of Nashville.

So what do we do now? What’s next? The answer is, we work harder .

Here is how-

We say thanks-

We would like to take a moment to thank the senators who continued to stand with us against this arbitrary bill including Republican Senator Dickerson, the only Republican who voted “no”.

We would also like to thank the Democratic Senators Yarbro, Akbari, Gilmore, Kyle, and Robinson, who all took a stand with their vote against discrimination.

We need to thank Lt. Governor Randy McNally, who understands the impact these bills will have on the state and who spoke out when he didn’t have to. We also thank the other Republican Senators that were present and not voting, their non-yes votes meant something.

We would like you to thank them too. We should not just reach out to legislators when we want to tell them we disagree, they should hear from us when they support us. Handwritten thank-you notes go a long way as well. (Corporate members, use that stationary.)

Contact them here:

Know what the bill does-

This bill goes against the very foundations of adoption, which is to ensure what is best for the child. However, please be assured that this does NOT mean that same-sex families cannot adopt. It has made it more difficult by allowing religiously-affiliated agencies to limit who gets to adopt. There are still many agencies that are happy to help loving families adopt.

Below is a list of adoption agencies that have verified they will serve and continue to allow adoption by same-sex couples. We are proud to have these agencies as resources and some as members.

Camelot Care Services (Member)
Jewish Family Services (Member)
Miriam’s Promise (Member)
Youth Villages (Member)
Destiny Adoption
Omni Fostering
All Blessings International

Get ready for more-

This doesn’t end things on Capitol Hill for us. This was only one of the many attacks targeting the LGBT community. Going forward, we will use this energy to keep fighting back. Now more than ever it is necessary for everyone to engage to ensure this state stays open and equal for EVERYONE . Here is what we need you to do:

If you are not already, sign up for our legislative Action Alerts or other groups specific to your profession and our advocacy to stay in the loop about the progress of legislation and actions needed. Better yet, JOIN the Chamber as a member. Your membership helps with the resources we need to continue to engage.

Corporate members: We need you to keep engaging like many of you already have. We would like you to sign an open letter again this year similar to last year’s against all the bills we might face. We will also be sending a letter when the adoption bill is signed in to law. Please start talking about this now with your corporation and let us know when ready to sign on. Contact Joe to be added to a corporate advocacy list and get on a weekly call to keep you updated on developments.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, @NashLGBTcc. We post events, updates regarding legislation, and other connection opportunities. Stay in the loop so you can be ready to go. All of our social platforms are linked at the bottom of this email. Here is the most recent coverage of the adoption bill. There will be more and we will keep you updated on all of them on our social.

This session has only begun and it has been a rough start, but it doesn’t have to end this way.