The Tennessee State Senate has approved a bill that would prohibit Tennessee schoolchildren from even uttering the words “gay” or “homosexual." The bill is just two stops away from becoming the Don’t Say Gay Law. Please help us reach the Tennessee House before they take up the vote on this atrocious bill.

Abundant research has demonstrated that this kind of repression and bullying can have disastrous results, causing significant loss of self-esteem, feelings of hopelessness and abandonment, and rejection by peers, elders, and even family. Teen suicides from bullying are on the rise, and a bill like this has the potential to exacerbate the problem, not solve it.

In a time when social awareness and consciousness are being elevated, and organizations are emerging all over the country to protect our most vulnerable young people from bullying and hate attacks, this kind of institutionalized bigotry is appalling.

Ask the Tennessee State Legislature to renounce this atrocious action, and to take the heinous "Don't Say Gay" bill off the table, before it's too late.