TTPC

The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition (TTPC) has been informed that a vote on S.909, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, could take place as early as Wednesday. The House of Representatives has already passed this legislation by a vote of 249 to 175, and the President has pledged to sign it.

Please contact both of Tennessee’s Senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker before Wednesday and tell them you want to them to support S.909. With the recent rash of hate crimes across the nation, and with new statistics from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs showing a sharp increase in hate crimes against LGBT people across the nation, and similar statistics from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation showing a sharp increase in hate crimes as well in Tennessee, there must be federal legislation to protect all LGBT people when local authorities refuse to act.

The bill has been endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Interfaith Alliance, National Disability Rights Coalition, which includes the Disability Law and Advocacy Center of Tennessee, American Psychological Association, and virtually every major law enforcement organization in the country, including the Major Cities Chiefs Association, which includes the City of Memphis and Metro Nashville, International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Sheriffs Association, the Police Executive Research Forum, and thirty-one state Attorneys General.