Last night, I received an email form the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) about a new GLBT victory in Tennessee. As Chris Saunders and H.G. Stovall reported, “By a vote of 24 to 15, the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County has passed the non-discrimination ordinance that will now protect Metro government employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. ” However, the evening was not without its drama as a second nondiscrimination ordinance (NDO), which was introduced on during the second reading of the original NDO, which contained alternate language which only protected employees against discrimination based on (more…)
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16
Sep
2009
Nashville NDO Passes!
25
Aug
2009
Insurance Co-Operative Scam
Wanna know why insurance companies are seeming amicable to so-called non-profit health care co-operatives? In a recent New York Times article by Robert Pear and Gardiner Harris about the new idea of Health Care Co-Operatives, I noticed that BlueCross BlueShield of North Dakota was a nonprofit organization. Mr. Conrad’s own state demonstrates the uncertainties surrounding cooperatives. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota dominates the state’s private insurance market, collecting nearly 90 percent of premiums. As a nonprofit owned by its members, the company would hope to qualify as a co-op under federal legislation, said Paul von Ebers, its incoming (more…)
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Rep. Jimmy Matlock: Transphobe and Anti-Semite
As is their yearly custom, the president of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, Dr. Marisa Richmond, sent out an email holiday greeting: As we celebrate the annual Holiday season, the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition reminds all that the fight for equal rights for all LGBT people is an ongoing one. The recent passage of Federal Hate Crimes legislation is an important step forward, but we still have to pass a fully inclusive Hate Crimes bill at the state level, along with the Employment Non Discrimination Act at the national level. These challenges should remind us all just how much we have to (more…)
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