FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WKRN) -- To kick off Pride Month, hundreds showed up to support the LGBTQ+ community at the fourth annual Franklin Pride event.
During the event on Saturday, June 1, the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) worked to raise awareness around several challenges currently facing students in our state.
The TEP highlighted a report released Friday, May 31, studying book bans across the state. The study found that Maury, Rutherford, and Wilson counties had some of the highest concentrations of book bans.
"Pride is a celebration of identity, but when people are trying to ban books about you, that's an erasing of your identity, so this is a major issue for pride," said TEP Executive Director Chris Sanders.
In Wilson County, the study found roughly 25% of all public comment discussions at school board meetings were centered around book reviews. However, in light of those discussions, Wilson County parent Erin Moore appreciated the balance her district had struck, allowing parents to give their students permission to view books deemed mature.
"The majority of these books is that they're just important topics, they're difficult topics sometimes, but they're important topics if we want to have well-rounded adults entering the world," Moore said.
In addition, the TEP highlighted debate over newly-revised Title IX rules announced by the Biden administration. The new rules would expand protections for LGBTQ+ students, forbidding discrimination in education based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The administration also added new protections for sexual assault victims.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is one of several AGs suing the Department of Education, citing concerns over school restrooms, locker rooms, and athletics.
A news release from the AG’s website said, in part, "If DOE’s unauthorized rewrite of Title IX is allowed to stand, Tennessee schools will have to allow males self-identifying as female—in every grade from preschool through college—to use girls’ and women’s bathrooms and locker rooms, play on girls’ and women’s sports teams, and access other female-only activities and spaces or risk losing billions in federal funding."
Yet, LGBTQ advocates at Franklin Pride hoped to see the new protections remain in place for students.
"It's really hard to feel like you're being legislated out of existence, and with these Title IX expansions, it'll just give more support for LGBTQ+ students in schools, and I know it would have changed a lot for me in high school and would have made my experience a lot different," said Eli Givens who went to middle and high school in Williamson County.
The TEP invited the public to show their support for new Title IX rules at the next Williamson County School Board meeting on June 17.