Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has
claimed he opposes workplace discrimination the day after signing a
bill into law that bars cities and municipalities from enacting gay
protection laws.
The measure, signed last Monday,
forbids local governments from enacting anti-discrimination
ordinances that go beyond state laws, which do not include gay
protections.
State lawmakers acted after the city of
Nashville approved a plan to require contractors doing business with
the city to abide by its 2009 ordinance which bans employment
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
(transgender protections).
Supporters claim the law will make
Tennessee an easier place to conduct business.
“The one thing that business must
have is consistency to survive and thrive,” Republican
Representative Glen Casada, who sponsored the House version of the
bill, told The Wall Street Journal.
The day after signing the bill into
law, the GOP governor told reporters: “We're not in favor of
discrimination in any form at all. We encourage businesses to put
that into their policies themselves. We just think that businesses
should get to decide for themselves what they have in their
policies.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this
page.)
Gay rights groups are considering
challenging the law in court.