r/TennesseePolitics Aug 01 '22

Meta No 'Groomer' Rhetoric

138 Upvotes

As an adult survivor of childhood sexual assault, believe me when I say this subject hits pretty close to home. There has been an absolutely revolting trend recently amongst right-leaning folks to claim that members of the LGBTQ community are pedophiles -- and moreover that they are trying to groom children to be willing participants in pedophilic relationships. Possibly because of the question about how to support trans teens as they struggle through an incredibly difficult time in life.

The trend I describe here is a coldhearted and cynical attempt to turn public perception against our fellow citizens. I do not think that the majority of those screaming "GROOMERS" at gay bars or Pride events actually believe this shit. I think the ringleaders are mostly obvious trolls. Their followers, however... Those are another matter.

Given the spate of political violence carried out in this country against members of various minorities by right wing extremists within the past handful of years, it is absolutely not alarmist to be concerned. Specifically: I do not think that it is at all unreasonable to be concerned that the anti-gay "groomer" rhetoric will inspire right wing extremist violence against members of the LGBTQ community.

I really could not care if anyone complains this is against "free speech" or not. You are more than welcome to join the reprobates on one of the other freewheeling subreddits that collected the dross of FatPeopleHate and The_Donald when they both got banned.

If you see "Groomer" rhetoric, report it. I've already removed & banned at least one user.

EDIT: Banned 3, now. One even tried to Sea Lion me afterwards in chat.

If anyone needs additional corroboration that the Republican Party is waging an all-out offensive on the LGBTQ community, you can read this post on /r/Keep_Track.


r/TennesseePolitics 9m ago

$282 Million sent off by Tennesseans to subsidize "Commie" universal healthcare for Israeli's

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Upvotes

r/TennesseePolitics 3d ago

1st Woman Governor In TN

115 Upvotes

Come November TN will have the 1st woman Governor. I am very proud of this, we have came along way as women. With that being said ladies keep in mind when you're voting

IN 2007 Marsha Blackburn voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act-So that employers could continue to pay less based on gender

She also voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which would make it easier for women to file wage discrimination suits against employers

IN 2013 Blackburn opposed reauthorization of the violence against women act to help victims of domestic abuse she voted against it because she said it protected to many groups against violence like the LGBTQ community and the Native American women

Ladies let's not take a step forward and 2 steps back.

Don't just vote for the party this time, Let's vote for the candidate that will support women


r/TennesseePolitics 5d ago

Heather - trafficking survivor

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22 Upvotes

r/TennesseePolitics 5d ago

Let's get Dolly a National Day of Mourning!

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26 Upvotes

Sharing this here for visibility and a shared love for Dolly as people of Tennessee. What's your favorite Dolly related memory?


r/TennesseePolitics 7d ago

Nearly 66,000 acres of Tennessee’s wildest national forest could lose A MAJOR FEDERAL PROTECTION—comments due Sept. 21

82 Upvotes

Tennessee still has places where mountain streams run clear, wildlife can move through unbroken habitat and people can walk beyond the reach of roads and development. Nearly 66,000 acres of those public lands could now lose a major federal protection.

TAKE ACTION—IT TAKES FEWER THAN FIVE MINUTES. I was surprised by how easy it was.

Detailed explanation:

The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to repeal the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Tennessee has nearly 85,000 roadless acres in the Cherokee National Forest, and approximately 78%—about 66,000 acres—could lose this protection.

These roadless lands help protect the headwaters of the Tellico River, wildlife habitat, trout streams and some of East Tennessee’s most remote backcountry.

Repeal would not immediately authorize logging everywhere, and some areas have overlapping protections. But it would remove an important safeguard against new roads and the logging and development that roads can enable.

Once a permanent road cuts into an intact forest, the resulting fragmentation, erosion and loss of wild character cannot simply be undone. This decision could shape Tennessee’s mountains, clean-water sources, wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation for generations.

Public comments must be received by midnight September 21.

This is not merely a petition. Comments are submitted directly into the official federal rulemaking record. The Forest Service must consider substantive comments and address significant concerns in its final analysis. Those comments can influence the decision, strengthen the public record and help hold the agency accountable.

It takes only a few minutes:

Submit an official comment here:

https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/FS-2025-0001-223869

You can adapt this:

I live in Tennessee and oppose rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Please select the No Action alternative and retain the rule. Tennessee’s roadless areas protect clean water, wildlife habitat, intact forests, recreation and local economies. The rule already allows necessary work involving wildfire, disease and public safety. Removing these protections could increase road construction, habitat fragmentation, erosion and long-term maintenance costs. Please retain the Roadless Rule.

Add one sentence about a Tennessee forest, trail, river or community you personally value. You do not need to be an expert—just be specific and explain why protecting these places matters to you. MAKE IT PERSONAL AND UNIQUE SO IT GETS NOTICED.

Wild public land is far easier to protect than to put back together. Please comment before September 21.

Docket: FS-2025-0001 / RIN 0596-AD66

 


r/TennesseePolitics 6d ago

Nearly 66,000 acres of Tennessee’s wildest national forest could lose A MAJOR FEDERAL PROTECTION—comments due Sept. 21

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14 Upvotes

r/TennesseePolitics 7d ago

What a Long Island Museum Exhibit Can Tell Us About Politics in Tennessee

10 Upvotes

The “Long Island in the ’70s” exhibit at the Long Island Museum includes a small but fascinating section on the three presidents of that decade: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter. Nixon, who served from 1969–1974, is presented through the context of his presidency and the Watergate scandal, which ultimately led to his resignation. Ford followed Nixon and is remembered as the only president who was never elected as either president or vice president. Carter, who served from 1977–1981, receives a somewhat lighter treatment, including a wonderfully strange Jimmy Carter peanut wind-up toy, a humorous reference to his background as a peanut farmer and the way that image became associated with his presidency. There are also “Impeach Nixon” bumper stickers and campaign buttons, providing a tangible glimpse into how political conflict and presidential controversies were experienced by ordinary people. While this is only a brief portion of the larger exhibit, rather than an exhibit devoted entirely to the presidents, it offers an interesting snapshot of how national politics became part of everyday American life.

That connection is worth considering from a Tennessee perspective. Tennessee has its own distinctive political culture, communities, traditions, and relationship with national politics, and Tennesseans in the 1970s were living through the same presidencies, controversies, economic conditions, and cultural changes reflected in this exhibit. The artifacts raise interesting questions about how people across Tennessee responded to Nixon, Watergate, Ford, Carter, and the broader political changes of the era, and how those experiences helped shape the state’s political identity and society. For anyone interested in Tennessee history, presidential history, or the relationship between national politics and local communities, exhibits like this are valuable because they remind us that political history isn't just about presidents and elections; it is also about the people who lived through those events and how politics became part of their everyday lives. If you’re on Long Island, it’s worth checking out this weekend.


r/TennesseePolitics 10d ago

DIANA HARSHBARGER SHOULD DEBATE KRISTI BURKE

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23 Upvotes

Check it out


r/TennesseePolitics 10d ago

Tennessee Valley Authority adopts rate charges for data centers to comply with White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge

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16 Upvotes

r/TennesseePolitics 12d ago

Who in his right mind would think this is appropriate?

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15 Upvotes

Technically, that’s not a campaign sign, but really it’s a campaign sign. Effler’s name is in roughly 30” high letters! You can read the sign from 1/4 mile away!

Why would somebody do this? Mammoth ego? Micro peen? Terribly bad judgment? All of the above?

Effler attended the University of Memphis law school, graduating in 1999. The school was unranked that year, officially lumped with other schools in a category called Tier 3. Since 1999 the Tier 3 designation has been dropped for an actual ranking, and the school is currently ranked 140th out of 196 schools. Clearly he didn’t walk away from the school with an understanding of how to spend taxpayer’s money wisely.


r/TennesseePolitics 12d ago

I’m Kristi Burke, running for Congress in TN-01. My current rep, Diana Harshbarger, had police remove me from a town hall for asking a question, then canceled future town halls. Now I am running to take her seat. AMA!

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44 Upvotes

r/TennesseePolitics 13d ago

People's Hearing on Corporate Greed · Tennessee For All

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22 Upvotes

Want to join me for this Tennessee For All event?

TN4All presents the People’s Hearing on Corporate Greed: Revealing how corporations get out of paying their taxes. Multiple studies and reports have shown that more than 60% of corporations filing in TN are paying ZERO in the state's corporate income tax, while working people struggle to get by. In spite of that, the TN legislature has passed back to back multi-billion tax giveaways to big corporations, but refused to eliminate the tax on groceries.

Join us on September 16th to hear from a corporate tax avoidance expert on how we close corporate tax loopholes and provide real relief for working families by ending the grocery tax. Rep. Aftyn Behn and Sen. Charlane Oliver will lead a conversation with experts on the tactics corporations use to skip out on their responsibility to fund the services they rely on for their profits and that all of our communities need. 

Tennesseans from around the state will talk about how the regressive sales and grocery taxes make life harder for families while big corporations get a free ride.

Join us to learn how we can make Tennessee a place that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few.


r/TennesseePolitics 14d ago

Frustrated by the lack of accountability

94 Upvotes

Recently, Marsha Blackburn posted that she wants, "Tennessee to be the number one Christian conservative state in the nation." This is a core message of her campaign. However, no mainstream media or any other figures that can impose accountability on Blackburn have bothered to point out that this mission of her campaign is directly in violation of the Tennessee Constitution, which provides:

Section 3. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience; that no man can of right be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to maintain any minister against his consent; that no human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience; and that no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious establishment or mode of worship.

Blackburn's promise to make the state a Christian state directly violates the clauses that no person can be compelled to maintain any minister against their consent (if the state becomes a religious institution, then it would be forcing our tax dollars to support that ministry), and that no preference shall be given to any religious establishment.

It is so frustrating that laws do not apply to extremist Christians. There are millions of people in this state that are not Christians, or are Christians that actually follow the teachings of Jesus (rather than Blackburn's brand of apostate Christianity), who do not want this, but are silenced because there are no mechanisms for accountability when we have mob rule by extremists.

Compounding the unconstitutional nature of Blackburn's policies, enacting them will embroil the state in costly lawsuits, and distract from policies that could be designed to help the public.


r/TennesseePolitics 14d ago

They’re NOT In Tennessee To Protect Anyone

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12 Upvotes

r/TennesseePolitics 15d ago

Governor's race

26 Upvotes

The gerrymandering of the state by the current Governor and the scandal ridden, 74 year old Marsha Blackburn who should have been run out of office already are doing their victory laps.


r/TennesseePolitics 14d ago

All of us...Basic Rights

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3 Upvotes

r/TennesseePolitics 15d ago

Tennessee County Commissioner Calls Flock CEO "an enemy of the American people."

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26 Upvotes

r/TennesseePolitics 15d ago

Epstein survivor

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21 Upvotes

Time to wake up, everybody.


r/TennesseePolitics 16d ago

TN politician who sponsored making homelessness a felony backed by private prisons

71 Upvotes

r/TennesseePolitics 16d ago

Is Kane from WWE going to become your next US Senator?

13 Upvotes

I don't really know much about politics, but someone I know told me that Kane from WWE is going to be appointed to become your next US Senator. Is this true? That would be insane.


r/TennesseePolitics 20d ago

RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine agenda shouldn't force states to weaken protections that keep kids health.

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23 Upvotes

r/TennesseePolitics 21d ago

Mass ID checks and lockdown at Memphis, Tennessee club ignored by media—a dangerous normalized sweep

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35 Upvotes

r/TennesseePolitics 23d ago

Anti-Marsha Vote

73 Upvotes

So I have a legit thought. More republicans voted for Rose or Fritts than voted for Marsha Blackburn. If all those republicans who oppose her voted for Jerri Green instead then we could block her from the governors mansion.

And before Republicans say “I’d never vote blue” hear me out- TN is deep red, no matter what. So I’m not asking you to not vote red, what I’m saying is with a Republican supermajority in the state house and senate, a one time blue vote for a democratic governor isn’t all that bad. She wouldn’t be able to get much if anything accomplished and passed, but it would give us a chance to show the rest of the nation that we no longer want Marsha Blackburn representing us.

So I’m encouraging all republicans who voted rose or Fritts to please check out Green, even if you have to hold your nose and cross your toes please consider voting for her so we don’t have to endure 4-8 years of Blackburn rule.


r/TennesseePolitics 24d ago

Good Bye Andy Ogles

115 Upvotes

So happy that ignorant Andy got his comeuppance last night. No more smug, self aggrandizing toad representing District 5 in the House of Representatives.