Clarksville LGBTQ supporters call for council member’s resignation

Thursday’s Clarksville City Council meeting drew a standing room crowd, including spectators wearing T-shirts, signs and flags in support of the LGBTQIA+ community. There were calls for the resignation of Councilman Travis Holleman following comments in June criticizing diversity, equity and inclusion and LGBTQ initiatives.

Some signs read: “Love is stronger than hate,” “We will not go back,” and “Stand up against hate.”

During a regular city council meeting on June 27, Holleman gave a presentation on “public policy and employee policies,” which he was scheduled to present to council members. During the presentation, Holleman criticized diversity, equity and inclusion training and programs, commonly known as DEI, that were being implemented by many large companies.

He called DEI efforts “training programs to help brainwash and indoctrinate workers,” and promoted “woke agendas,” comparing DEI agents to communist agents.

Holleman continued to criticize the actions of the LGBTQ community, drag shows and transgender issues, saying that “Prince of Pride is Satan” and calling on the city to “wake up and repent.”

During public comment, Montgomery County Democratic Party Chairman Charles Uffelman confronted city council members, asking those “who have not spoken” after Holleman’s June speech to “stand up now.”

“Maybe that doesn’t fit your political views, so let me see if it fits your financially,” Uffelman said. “Is it useful to have one of your members denounce the LGBT community as a communist, to recruit businesses to the city? Is it useful to recruit talent for Austin Peay college athletics? Is it useful to hire teachers? Is it useful to promote peace in our city? Ask yourself, what is your role? Is it to let him do it? Is it to silence the one who stood up to him? Or is it to actually stand up against homophobia and hate.”

Uffelman then called on Holleman to resign immediately “because of the failure of his leadership, because of the damage done to the LGBT community, but also to all people helped by diversity, equality and inclusion programs.”

Uffelman further defended DEI initiatives.

“DEI is not just about LGBT people. It’s about Juneteenth. It’s about Emancipation Day. It’s about the AAPI Festival. It’s about Latino heritage,” he said. “Clarksville is a beautiful city because it’s diverse, not despite its diversity, and that’s an American concept. It has nothing to do with Russia, it has nothing to do with communism.”

After Uffelman, Anita Hart, president of C-Pride, or Clarksville Pride, spoke before the city council.

“He (Holleman) targeted the LGBTQ community and our C-Pride organization,” Hart said. “His words were not just opinions. He presented them as irrefutable truth. He told the community at large not to support us, even going so far as to say we are a threat to the people of Clarksville, and ultimately declared we are not welcome here. The rest of the city council, all of you, with the exception of one brave member, sat in silence.

“This has left the LGBTQ community fearful that they will no longer be represented in a space where everyone should feel equal and know that their rights are protected.”

Hart condemned Holleman’s comments, calling them “dangerous and discriminatory.”

“Let’s rewrite the story together,” she said.

The final speaker was Nicholas Wojack, a CMCSS student who described himself as “not a manly man” and someone who loves musical theater. His friends described him as “queer, flamboyant, radically passionate about politics, and someone who loves and cares about people.”

He asked Holleman to understand and get to know the LGBTQIA+ community as people with different stories.

“This is my identity and what makes me human,” Wojack said. “Whereas Mr. Holleman focuses on one aspect of my identity, and uses such labels as nothing more than a threat, based purely on my unchanging sexuality or dysphoric gender identity, despite never having met me or known of my existence… .”

He also said the comments fueled hateful rhetoric.

Councilwoman Wanda Allen addressed the crowd.

“The world that we live in today, there shouldn’t be this much hate in our world,” Allen said with emotion and a quivering voice. “And even though sometimes we think, oh, it’s not hate, it’s just how I feel, it’s my freedom of speech, I get it. We all have freedom of speech, but this is not the place for it.”

She went on to discuss DEI initiatives, which have recently come under fire in the corporate community after Tractor Supply in Brentwood announced it would stop providing training to employees.

“The whole DEI thing in our country is ridiculous. It stands for diversity, equity and inclusion,” Allen said.

“At the 4th of July event at the Wilma Rudolph Event Center, we had our sign language people there to sign for our community, and we had a number of deaf members of our community come forward, and we’re so excited because they were able to understand everything that was happening that day because we had people interpreting. That’s part of DEI too. So if we were to let go of DEI, people with disabilities, people who are aging, people who are minorities, people who are LGBTQIA, anyone who is different, would no longer be able to exist. You can’t represent your community with those kinds of feelings.”

More: Why the Tractor Supply Controversy? Tennessee Company Drops DEI, Inclusion, Climate Initiatives

More: Why John Deere is moving away from diversity, inclusion initiatives and ‘social or cultural awareness’ events

Holleman responds

During the city council’s commentary, Holleman addressed the crowd.

“My earlier comments about DEI were not, that homosexuals don’t exist, disabled people don’t exist. I mean, they existed before diversity, equity, and inclusion, like diversity, equity, and inclusion is something new.

“When I talk about my presentation, I mean, I never really cared about it until the LGBT (community) started targeting kids,” Holleman said, referring to a law recently passed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom that prohibits schools from revealing a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity to anyone without the student’s consent. There has been some debate nationwide about whether the law includes parents.

The crowd suddenly burst into groans and cries of protest.

“My whole goal is to protect children,” Holleman said. “And so I’m sorry that you feel attacked, but protecting children is more important. That’s all I have.”

Councilmember Karen Reynolds requested that the resolution calling for Holleman’s resignation be distributed and added to the minutes before she addressed the crowd.

“Last month we were talking about freedom of speech,” Reynolds said, “and yes, there is freedom of speech, but you also have to pay for spreading hate. It is not freedom to not be responsible for the consequences of what you say, and that is what this is.”

She praised the crowd for their turnout and reminded everyone to vote on August 1.

“This is what democracy looks like: filling this space, paying attention, and having elected representatives at every level speak out, this is what democracy looks like. What we need in our community right now is for people to vote,” Reynolds said.

Immediately after Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts officially ended the meeting, chants of “This is what democracy looks like” were heard. Reynolds led the crowd in a chant that was repeated loudly.

Holleman did not respond to requests for comment from The Leaf-Chronicle.

Kenya Anderson is a reporter for The Leaf-Chronicle. You can contact her at [email protected] or at X at kenyaanderson32Subscribe to the Leaf Chronicle to support local journalism on www.theleafchronicle.com.