WHAT'S NEXT

Ask Nashville's Metro Development and Housing Agency to Expand Non-Discrimination Statement
  1. Signatures
    152 out of 200
    Petitioning
    1. Communications Director, MDHA (Julie Oaks)
  2. Created By
    Michael Jones
    Boston, MA
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates
How We Won

Jan 18, 2011

Both sexual orientation and gender identity were missing from Nashville's Metro Development and Housing Agency's non-discrimination policy, leaving LGBT residents at risk of discrimination with regards to public housing. More than 150 Change.org members took action to pressure the agency to expand their policy. In response to the pressure, the Agency's Communications Director wrote Change.org and announced that revising the nondiscrimination policy would be an agenda item at the Agency's next board meeting. At that meeting, board members took up the issue, and voted unanimously to expand the nondiscrimination policy to include both sexual orientation and gender identity.

Nashville's Metro Development and Housing Agency works to create affordable housing opportunities for residents of Nashville, as well as build a more vibrant downtown area for the city. The Agency currently has a pretty exhaustive non-discrimination policy, which reads: "The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, sex, color, national origin, religion, disability or any other legally protected status in admission to, access to, or operations of its programs, services, or activities."

But the Agency currently includes no discrimination protections for sexual orientation or gender identity. And that's something the Mayor of Nashville, Karl Dean, would like to see change.

Send the Metro Development and Housing Agency a message that in order for Nashville to be a truly inclusive city, agencies like theirs should step up to the plate and make sure that all forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, are rooted out.

Recent Signatures

Please expand your non-discrimination statement to include sexual orientation and gender identity

Dear MDHA,

Earlier this month, the mayor of Nashville, Karl Dean, implored several boards in the city of Nashville to adopt a comprehensive non-discrimination ordinance that includes protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Among the boards that Mayor Dean singled out was the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA).

Currently, the MDHA has a non-discrimination policy that reads: "The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, sex, color, national origin, religion, disability or any other legally protected status in admission to, access to, or operations of its programs, services, or activities."

Missing from that list is both sexual orientation and gender identity.

I urge you to add these two categories, and expand your non-discrimination statement to be truly inclusive of all Nashville residents. This is important work that lends to the national reputation of Nashville as a welcoming city, and a step that the MDHA should welcome with open arms.

Please consider an expansion of your non-discrimination statement. Many thanks for your time.

[Your name]

Press Inquiries