Lobbyist For Tennessee Law That Invalidated Metro Nashville Protections For Gays And Transgender Feared His Historic Anti-Gay Stance Would Serve As Distraction From Economic Argument He Employed To Promote Bill

The chief lobbyist for a Tennessee law that invalidated Metro Nashville protections for gay and transgender individuals feared his moral thoughts on the measure would become public and distract from the economic argument he used to sell the bill, documents reveal. The Tennessean reports that e-mails written by David Fowler, president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee and a former state senator, are included in thousands of pages of correspondence lawmakers submitted as part of a court battle over the constitutionality of the state law. The pending lawsuit alleges the law was motivated by prejudice rather than the economic concerns that were publicly argued. The law dubbed the Equal Access to Intrastate Commerce Act nullified an ordinance the Metro Council passed in April requiring city contractors to pledge not to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The ordinance extended protections already given to employees based on age, race, sex, color, national origin and disability, and it required contractors to follow a non-discrimination policy Metro adopted for its own employees in 2009. Supporters of the state law said it was a pro-business measure aimed at ensuring that companies would not be confronted with conflicting policies from city to city across the state. On Monday, Fowler said the Family Action Council fought for the legislation — even though promoting business is not one of the organization’s stated purposes — because a strong economy is good for traditional Christian families. His e-mails, however, reveal other concerns. “Metro Council here in Nashville is considering requiring private businesses that do business with the city and those who lease property from the city have an employment policy to protect homosexual conduct and cross-dressing, etc.,” Fowler wrote in a January 26 e-mail to individuals including state Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin. Fowler described how he hoped to persuade the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce to oppose Metro’s planned ordinance. “Metro passed its homosexual ordinance for Metro employees by 24 to 15 in 2009 so the Council is clearly liberal. Please do NOT pass this on to anyone who you think might in the slightest pass it to anyone else,” Fowler continued later in the e-mail. “We’ve learned that some folks we thought were friends cannot be trusted and we don’t need the Chamber backing off because it starts to appear to be too much of a Christian, right wing, homosexual issue rather than a business/economic issue.” Fowler wrote the group again on January 29 after meeting with chamber officials. “I felt it was pretty clear that they did not like the ordinance but didn’t want to come across as homophobes or send the country a signal that Nashville was not a great city for all people — was inclusive,” Fowler wrote. “In my opinion the Chamber is clearly trying to document ‘good reasons’ to oppose the bill that anyone with any common sense, regardless of where they stand on the ethic of homosexual conduct, could see are valid concerns.” Again, Fowler concluded the e-mail by asking recipients not to share it. “We sure don’t need any loose lips getting word to the Chamber about what I think and for sure not (the Tennessee Equality Project)!” he wrote. The Equality Project advocates for the equality of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. Fowler continued to write legislators throughout the 2011 legislative session. While he cited concerns that Nashville’s ordinance would force Christian businesspeople to compromise their religious beliefs to do business with Metro, he coached lawmakers to stick with the economic argument and provided them with statements denying assertions that the law was “about preventing homosexual and transgender rights.” Fowler wrote state Senator Mae Beavers on April 26, “We don’t need more regulation of business and business sure doesn’t need the 348 different cities coming up with their own ideas of what a discriminatory practice is. That’s the line and you just repeat it like (Rep.) Glen Casada did last night when the bill passed the House 73 to 24. Will the homosexuals be upset? Sure." Casada, R-Franklin, and Beavers, R-Mt. Juliet, sponsored the legislation in their respective chambers. The law was signed by Gov. Bill Haslam in May after easily clearing the General Assembly. Some state business groups such as the Associated General Contractors of Tennessee supported the law, but major companies such as Alcoa, Nissan and DuPont publicly opposed it. A coalition of activists, Metro Council members, the Tennessee Equality Project and others sued the state over the law in June, claiming it is unconstitutional because “it was founded in prejudice” and violates equal-protection standards. “The few emails we have obtained show a purposeful plan for a ‘party line,’ so to speak, so that legislators only say certain things publicly to support the alleged purpose that the Family Action Council wanted them to state,” said Nashville attorney Abby Rubenfeld, who is representing the plaintiffs. “It is clear that this statute was adopted to stop local governments from adopting non-discrimination protections that include sexual orientation.” Questioned Monday about the correspondence turned over by lawmakers, Fowler said that the Family Action Council was indeed concerned about Christian business people’s religious liberty and “right to conscience” in addition to economic concerns. He said it is not unusual for lobbyists to encourage lawmakers to focus on certain arguments over others and provide talking points. “That’s what any lobbyist worth his salt does on the Hill,” Fowler said. Asked if his e-mails could provide ammunition for those seeking to overturn the law, Fowler said his own views on the legislation are irrelevant. “There are any number of reasons outside groups and individuals feel the way they do about legislation,” he said. “But the question is what does the bill do on its face, and what did the legislators intend to accomplish by the bill.” Johnson, who voted in favour of the bill, said that he couldn’t speak for Fowler, but that his own motivations were always economic in nature: “For me, my position on the bill was we need a consistent non-discrimination policy across the state of Tennessee.” But Kent Williams, a self-described Republican at odds with party leadership, wrote, “I don’t think Christ would be in favour of transsexual behaviour” in a letter to his hometown newspaper, the Elizabethton Star, included in the documents turned over by lawmakers. Rubenfeld still hopes to obtain more records from the Family Action Council. “We are looking for their communications with elected officials to try and overturn the Metro ordinance, their public communications about the bill and others intended to overturn the ordinance, and their messages to their own membership on these issues,” Rubenfeld said. “Our position is that there is no constitutional right to lobby in secret.” The council is fighting the effort and has filed motions to quash subpoenas of its leaders in the case. “If they win, the political process is dead because citizens won’t risk being dragged into court simply for expressing their views,” Fowler said.