"Gays will rape your kids" ad used to promote TN Chamber of Commerce’s hate bill

Yes, that's what was used to promote the anti-gay/trans legislation that Nissan, FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare's chamber of commerce in Tennessee lobbied for. A commercial showing a lecherous man stalking a four year old girl, with the intent to rape or murder her.

And these companies are saying they had no idea the legislation was intended to be anti-gay and anti-trans. It was only legislation intended to repeal a gay/trans civil rights ordinance, and to ban cities in the state from every passing another civil rights ordinance ever again. It was only legislation written by the religious right, and the chief lobbyist was from the religious right. And the ads showed men trying to rape small children. Yes, nothing intended to demean gays or transgender people there.

In other news, over 7,000 people have signed our open letter to to these companies in under 48 hours. The open letter demands that they publicly oppose the legislation and ask the governor to veto it. They all site on the board of the local chamber of commerce - Nissan heads the board - and their chamber of commerce supported and lobbied for this hateful legislation. Nissan, FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare own this bill now. If it becomes law, it's on their head.

So far, AT&T, Nissan, FedEx and Alcoa have issued statements. Three of them have been pretty weak, and don't even say whether they support the legislation or not. HRC issued a press release claiming the companies are now publicly opposing the legislation, but it's simply not true. Read their statements for yourself. They're intended to sound supportive without actually committing the companies to anything. Joe and I are contacting the companies now to ask them directly whether they oppose the legislation and whether they'd like to see it vetoed. Stay tuned for their responses.