If things go according to plan, this fall, I’m going to see The South. The Mississippi Delta where the blues were born. Graceland. I’m going to eat BBQ and greens. A state or two will become more than just an outline on the map. I was genuinely thrilled until my friend B said this: “You shouldn’t spend one nickel in Tennessee. Do you not know about their anti-gay legislation?”
I did know about this, but only in a passing sort of way because I’d heard about the bill that had been mocked as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. I did not know, until I looked, about another bill, vetoed by Tennessee’s Republican governor. This other bill added language that would extend anti-discrimination protection in Nashville. “The Nashville ordinance prohibited companies that discriminate because of sexual orientation or gender identity from receiving city contracts.” (Business Week)
For the record, I’m sick to death of anti-gay politics. I don’t care who you marry or what your religion says about it. My marriage is fine, thank you, in spite of the myriad gays and lesbians and transgender folks getting on in the world as best they can. I wish that “You’re here, you’re queer, I’m used to it” would migrate to a national policy. Some of my best friends, blah blah blah, committed relationships for more than 20 years, blah blah blah, raising beautiful happy kids, blah blah blah. Etc. Yawn. Seriously, THIS is what you’re in a lather about? You must have it pretty good.
In trying to unravel the politics behind the anti-anti-discrimination move, I got lost in a rat hole of business vs. local vs. state vs. national politics. The business objections seem specious to me; I do not understand how adding gender and sexual orientation to a non-discrimination clause translates into a financial burden. It’s easy to go from here to getting bogged down in a complicated discussion about constitutional politics, states rights, the 14th Amendment, the ERA, oh, it goes on and on.
Tennessee politics may end up being a non-issue, as my destination is actually Mississippi. But back in 2003, Mississippi’s gay community called for a boycott of Gulfport, a resort town popular with gay tourists. In 2006, a restrictive abortion bill resulted in a call for a South Dakota boycott, no Mount Rushmore for you. It’s no longer relevant, but there was a call to boycott Hawaii until the state released Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Last year, activists called for a boycott of Arizona because of their absurd anti-immigrant legislation. Don’t go to Egypt. Burma. Israel. China.
I sat down at my keyboard and hammered out an email to Tennessee Tourism. I asked them what their stance was on the anti-discrimination bill; I’m awaiting a reply. I also wondered if it would be possible to spend my money at only those businesses that share my politics — another absolute rat hole of research and confusion. (See also: I recently switched web hosts.)
While I wait for their reply, I find I’m forced to ponder a lot of complicated questions about the general thoughtlessness of how I spend my tourism dollars. Does that hotel chain pay its workers fairly? Does that tourism business reinvest in the local economy? Is the restaurant serving locally sourced food in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint? Did my waiter give money to the Tea Party? Where is the fuzzy border between my money and my mouth? Ethics are expensive, and I like the squeaky cleanliness of a hotel room that’s been disinfected with chemicals that are bad for everyone.
Plus, I want to go to Graceland.
Discuss.
Awesome photo by Betsy Weber via Flickr (Creative Commons). Thank you, Betsy, for making it public and shareable.
My sister lived for years in Memphis, so I can say that yes, this is a complicated proposition. I, too, try to think about the ethics of visiting a place and spending my money in responsible ways to encourage responsible business practices.
Ironically, Memphis is also the home to the National Civil Rights Museum (http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/). Go there. It’s built on the site where Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered and is a sobering look at the depths to which human beings can go to hold on to power.
And perhaps use some gay-friendly websites and books as your guide to businesses that support tolerance and equality.
I’d also suggest eating at Automatic Slim’s. I don’t know where they stand on political issues, but their food is BEYOND fabulous!
Personally, I figure when I show up in a place of bigotry and intolerance, hopefully my presence helps right the hate-to-love ratio just a little bit. It isn’t easy, and it is part of the reason I haven’t traveled to large parts of the world — I won’t spend money to support dictators or fascists or regimes that suppress women, etc. But within our borders, that becomes more difficult. If I avoided places of intolerance all the time, I’d never go anywhere, I’m afraid.
PS: Graceland is totally worth the trip. Once was enough, but it was pretty darn interesting!
“I figure when I show up in a place of bigotry and intolerance, hopefully my presence helps right the hate-to-love ratio just a little bit.”
LOVE.
Really glad you put this out there, Pam.
One specific idea/suggestion/what-have-you strikes me about your upcoming TN travels: I gather (from my very brief reading about the Don’t Say Gay bill and the rest) that there are some pretty active LGBT groups in Tennessee. Maybe you could contact them and see if they have any feedback on gay-friendly hotels, etc. vs. companies whose conduct has been more hostile? Then you could patronize the friendly places, and while you’re there (or after you’ve left) contact the highest-up management you can find and tell them exactly why you chose to support their property. Rewarding the “good guys” and letting them know why seems like perhaps a more helpful course than a boycott.
As an aside, I saw a great rebuttal recently to Ron (Rand?) Paul’s comments about how he wouldn’t have voted for the Civil Rights Act because it infringed on the freedom of businesses. It was a simple reply: Government-enforced segregation infringed on the freedom of businesses. But nobody on the pro-business end of the political spectrum seemed concerned about that at the time. Moral of the story: As is so often the case when race is in play, calling on “states’ rights” or “freedom of business” (which I’m pretty sure is not one of the “freedom ofs…” listed in the big important documents anyway) are just covers for bigotry.
The Tenth Amendment notwithstanding, every time I hear “states’ rights,” I remember that Scarlett O’Hara’s father yelled that phrase over and over at a party before the Civil War in “Gone with the Wind.”
Thanks for this post – I could not agree with you more. My sister is gay and a nicer, sweeter, more generous person could not be found. It’s really difficult to only allocate your travel money to places with liberal views like ours; how do you even find them??
Can I just chime in for a moment as someone who is from the Nashville area but currently lives in the country’s gay capital (San Francisco)? Don’t miss out on a good trip because a few bad eggs have given us a negative name. First of all, there is a HUGE gay scene in Nashville, and the city is veering much more toward liberal than Republican (at least the 40-and-under set). The problem is that there are only four major cities in the state–and only two of those, Memphis and Nashville, have metro areas that exceed one million residents–and, thus, a large portion of the population resides in the the uber-conservative rural regions that drive these sort of initiatives. (Don’t burn them at the stake: They don’t know any better, bless their hearts. The Pentecostal and Southern Baptist churches have them brainwashed!)
Loving music as you do, you’d be doing yourself a disservice not to veer over into Tennessee if you have the chance. Though I must say Nashville is far better than Memphis as a tourist destination. That said, I wrote a book on the state last year and had a lot of fun during the Memphis portion of the research. It’s a quirky little town with some charming attributes, despite its bad rap.
OFten times I struggle with this very question myself – where does my tourist money go? Does it go to sustainable tourism (whatever that is?), what kind of politics do the hostels I’m staying in support, etc, etc – but you’re absolutely right that if you’re not careful, it will lead to an endless research and confusion.
Will be curious to know the answer from Tennessee tourism board – but at the same time, it doesn’t necessarily reflect the beliefs of others who will also benefit of your visit there (the restaurant owners, workers at the museums, etc, etc).