Mayor Takes Strong Stand Against LBGT Legislation Now in The State Legislature

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam is deciding whether to sign a bill allowing mental health counselors to decline patients whose lifestyle they disagree with.
That bill, along with one moving through the legislature to restrict bathroom use, has put the state in the cross-hairs of LGBT supporters.
Chattanooga mayor Andy Berke is visiting New York city this week.
And he was asked about those bills.

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke and Hamilton county mayor Jim Coppinger are in New York this week, promoting the “gig city”.
But Berke found himself facing questions about the state’s LGBT legislation.

MAYOR ANDY BERKE, IN NEW YORK “We’re against it. We have lots of problems in our state and our country and this really isn’t one of them. I haven’t heard people in my city complain about it and what we need to do is be focused on the problems that are ahead of us and not get distracted by crazy issues.”

The controversy surrounding the counseling bill and the bathroom bill still debated in the legislature is putting Governor Haslam on the spot.
He’s been warned by Attorney General Herbert Slatery that signing them could cost the state up to $1.2 billion in federal education funding because it could violate anti-discrimination laws.

Mayor Berke says he hopes the bill won’t become law, but he focused the discussion on Chattanooga’s pluses.

MAYOR BERKE “What we need is a place where talent grows, like where people can live and certainly you’ve seen that by the tremendous infusion of people and talent into our area.”

The bathroom bill requires students to use bathrooms that apply to the gender on their birth certificate, rather than what’s called “gender identity”.
State Democrats are rallying behind opponents.

REP. MIKE STEWART, TN DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS “The fact that the attorney general has recognized that this will result in significantly reduced funds for Tennessee should put an end to the discussion of the bill and ultimately, allow us to move forward without it.”

Similar bills in North Carolina and Mississippi have resulted in threatened economic boycotts from many national companies.