Jamie Donaldson at Sunday’s Unity Rally in Memphis
Commercial-Appeal photo by Lance Murphey Source:
Memphis Flyer,
Memphis Commercial Appeal "Scream it loud enough that they can hear you at Bellevue Baptist Church!" Shelby County (Tenn.) Commissioner Steve Mulroy, urged a rally of about 500 people who gathered Sunday at Cooper-Young’s First Congregational Church in Memphis.
He led the crowd in polite shouts of “"Equal rights, please! Equal rights, please!”, according to Memphis Flyer.
Mulroy is the the sponsor of a non-discrimination ordinance that would protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender government workers in Shelby County, where Memphis is located. He was joined on the church steps by ordinance supporters State Senator Beverly Marrero and former Shelby County Commissioner Walter Bailey.
The crowd at Sunday's Unity Rally gathered to support of Mulroy's ordinance, which will go before the Shelby County Commission for a vote this afternoon. Currently, there are no local, state, or federal laws to prohibit an employer from not hiring or firing someone based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity, the Flyer notes.
Hundreds rally in Memphis to support LGBT anti-discrimination measure [contd.]
“We’re on the steps of a church… it’s peculiarly appropriate,” he told the crowd according to Memphis Commercial Appeal. “It’s just the Christian thing to do, to treat people with respect.”
Several speakers reacted to the pastors who spoke against the proposal last week, during a committee hearing on the measure.
“Church people in Memphis have been fed some rotten information,” said Rev. Elaine Blanchard, who is openly lesbian. “They insist words written 2,000 years ago include facts about modern human sexuality and that’s ridiculous.
“It’s time churches got the facts straight about what it means to be a church,” she continued. “It’s for such a time as this the GLBT community can come together to show the church how to obey the golden rule.”
Marrero said she had seen discrimination her entire life in Memphis, the Commercial Appeal reports.
“I promise you, what I believe in, I will always believe in and stand up for what I know to be the right thing,” she said.
Source: Non-Discrimination Support Rally Draws Over 500 People | Memphis Flyer
Supporters come out for Shelby County gay rights proposal | Memphis Commercial Appeal
Last modified: 1 Jun 09 10:10
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