Our Stories

Our stories move minds.

We can change minds.

Harvey Milk was right when he said “Gay brothers and sisters, you must come out. Come out to your parents… But once and for all, break down the myths. Destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake. For their sake.”

Transgender Bathroom Bill Dies in Tennessee House Committee
ABC News
By Sheila Burke, Associated Press
March 22, 2016

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A bill that would require transgender students to use bathrooms that match their sex at birth has failed.

The bill died in a House Education Administration and Planning Committee meeting Tuesday that was packed with transgender youth who opposed the measure.

Transgender students who testified before the committee were elated and said they felt like sharing their personal stories had impacted the vote.

“It feels great to know that my voice is counting,” Henry Seaton, an 18-year-old student who attends Beech High School in Hendersonville, said after the vote. Seaton, who was born female but identifies as male, testified last week in a subcommittee and then spoke to committee chairman Mark White, R-Memphis, before the meeting. Seaton, who said he has to use a teacher’s restroom that is locked half the time, said he thought White listened to him when he spoke with the lawmaker in the legislative cafeteria.

Their voices did make a difference.

After Meeting Transgender Students, Some Lawmakers Change Course On Controversial Bathroom Bill
Nashville Public Radio
By Emily Siner
March 22, 2016

A conservative lawmaker says he now thinks transgender students should be able to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with. Rep. Rick Womick's comments Tuesday led to the sudden failure of a bill that would have required students to use the restroom of their birth sex instead.

Womick, R-Rockvale, said he changed his mind after talking to his doctor, John Guenst, whose child was born with male organs but has identified as a girl for most of her life. John's wife, Valerie, says with medical help, their daughter went through puberty as a girl.
[…]
"This is, to me, a bill that's government trying to get involved in something they don't need to," he said during the House education committee hearing. "Why are we going to fix something that's not broke?"

That combination of small government ideology and a personal connection also swayed Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis. He pointed to a transgender boy in the audience and said the bill would unnecessarily complicate his life.

One voice can make a difference!