No. 469: Nearing the Finish Line

Good afternoon, everyone.

This week’s been a barn burner for state and city politics. The Tennessee House invoked a “Flow Motion” late Monday night in an attempt to wrap up this year’s session before the week’s end, no doubt in response to the rabid and persistent activist presence up on the hill over the past two weeks. “The end is nigh,” House Majority Leader Lamberth said of the effort.

But as attention has focused on the state capitol, other developments continue undeterred.

At the Franklin Factory last night, the Williamson County Republican Party held its reorganization meeting. Plagued by petty infighting, cancellations, and reschedules in the weeks leading up to the event that I won’t bore you with, the meeting marked the apotheosis of Gary Humble’s activist efforts with each candidate he stumped for winning a seat. We’ll have more to say on Gary’s work building a grassroots political coalition in the coming weeks.

And here locally, we witnessed the culmination of the Titans stadium deal last night at the Metro Council meeting, which Megan gets into below just after Jano explores the role of hormone replacement therapy in the transition process and how it might exacerbate underlying violent tendencies, especially for women.

Onward.

⚧ HORMONAL HELL ON EARTH

From Jano Tantongco

Editor's Note In yesterday's newsletter, I asserted that instead of pushing authorities to release the manifesto, we should burn it. A more revealing bit of information regarding Hale's motives may be a toxicology report. Here, Jano talks specifically about the effects of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and the role it could have played.

The tragic slaying of students and faculty at the Covenant School by a 28-year-old trans-identifying assailant has led some to pose an uncomfortable question: was testosterone involved?

We already know that gender dysphoria is correlated with, if not caused by, mental distress; Some go as far as to label it a disorder. Others have noted that many of the symptoms of gender dysphoria overlap with those of undiagnosed autism. Compared to the general population, transgender and “gender-diverse” people are disproportionately represented on the autism spectrum. The Covenant shooter was described by an acquaintance as “autistic but high-functioning.”

For female-to-male transitioners, taking a hormonal regimen of testosterone is the first physiological step toward living as the opposite sex, which can then be followed by “gender-affirming” surgery.

It’s unclear if the shooter — who went by “Aiden” and used he/him pronouns — was on hormones. And, we ultimately may never know, requests for the disclosure of her toxicology report notwithstanding. One way or the other, a burning question lingers: can testosterone therapy exacerbate the symptoms of those suffering from gender dysphoria? Can it make them more aggressive, or even violent?

❍ LAST NIGHT AT METRO COUNCIL

From Megan Podsiedlik

Well, the Titans stadium bill survived another round. Let’s get the need-to-know out of the way: The amended stadium bill passed on second reading with 25 yeses and 11 noes. There will be a public hearing during the third and final reading of the bill, which is set for next week’s special council meeting. And Councilmember Taylor’s controversial amendment did not make the cut.

The tone was split during last night’s meeting. The crowd hoping to snag a seat in the gallery to hear the floor discussion about the stadium bill spilled out the door, half proudly in favor, half pleading for just a little more time. The council mirrored the two factions: half of the members were exhausted, weary from trying to explain the cohesion and benefits of the deal; meanwhile, the other half clung to the angst of their constituents and tried mightily to drag out the process.

As the meeting began inside the courthouse, Odessa Kelly made an appearance and called an unofficial public hearing in the hallway just outside the gallery doors. During the last meeting, the council did not approve a public hearing for the bill. So, about 26 constituents took the opportunity to say their piece in front of the small, impromptu crowd. “We initially got into this for a little less than $300 million. Twenty-five years later we still owe $60 million,” said Shannon Wood, one of the 26. “The Strunk family put twenty-five thousand dollars into this team when they bought it, now they have a $3.5 billion dollar asset. They can afford to get their own loan.”

“They’re using resources to build a stadium to get a Superbowl here. That is not okay,” Kelly told those gathered around her. “That is not how we set a precedent in this city for what matters.”

HEADLINES

📊 The Vanderbilt University Poll The biannual poll reveals that the majority of Nashvillians believe the city to be on the wrong track and that the "top priorities" for Nashville's next mayor should be 1) education, 2) crime, 3) affordable housing, 4) problems of the needy, and 5) the Metro debt problem.

Southern Baptist Convention Calls for Gun Control in Tennessee (Star) Brent Leatherwood, the Southern Baptist Convention’s president of the church’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), demanded gun control in a letter published by The Tennesseean.

Legislature passes fairgrounds, sports authority workarounds (Post) On Monday, legislation that would reconstitute the Metropolitan Sports Authority passed 74-23 in the state House. The 13-member sports authority would be made up of two members appointed by the governor, two members appointed by the House speaker, two members appointed by the Senate speaker, and seven members appointed by Nashville’s mayor.

DCS Caseworkers May Have 400% More Cases Than Approved (TCN) DCS caseworkers may be responsible for 400% of the approved number of cases, but the agency has a new slogan: Children First! The committee passed HB0203 which extends the existence of DCS beyond its sunset deadline of June 30, 2023, for another year.

DEVELOPMENT

• Phase 1 Of The Buckner Lane Widening Project Prepares To Open In Spring Hill, TN (Now Next)
• Energy Company Announces $200 Million Investment in Madison County (Star)
• River North sale sets record (Post)
• Downtown church plans addition (Post)

THINGS TO DO

View our calendar for the week 🗓 here and our weekly film rundown 📽 here.

📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.

🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.

👨🏻‍🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide and our 2023 southern festival guide and 🎥 2023 movie guide.

TONIGHT

🪕 Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Zakir Hussain @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, Info
+ classical & bluegrass virtuosos

🪕 Sami Braman @ Station Inn, 8p, $15, Info

🎸 Megan Moroney @ Exit/ In, 8p, Info
+ singer-songwritter with classic country, southern rock, and americana influences

🎸 Caroline Rose @ Brooklyn Bowl,  8p, $26, Info
+ indie pop

🎸 The Lemon Twigs @ The Basement East, 8p, $20, Info
+ power pop

🪕 Bluegrass Night @ The American Legion Post 82, 7p, Free, Info

🥁 The Wednesday Beat @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $10, Info
+ record spinner + drummer

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.

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