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Contributed commentary by Julie Bisgaard on comments made by Councilman Travis Holleman in regard to the LGBTQ+ community earlier this week.

I am writing in response to the recent city newsletter from Councilman Travis Holleman released on Rumble on March 3. He was responding to the issue of school vouchers. In this video, he states he “backs vouchers because the LGBTQ agenda is communist and that the Marxist public schools want to indoctrinate kids.” He continues to reference The Communist Manifesto by picking out sentences and saying at one point that he is still digesting the book.

As an ally and a retired public school teacher, I will always stand up for the LGBTQ community and our public schools.

I am the district chairperson for the Tennessee Equality Project here in Montgomery County. TEP advocates for equal rights of LGBTQ people in Tennessee through legislative advocacy. We lobby the Tennessee General Assembly and local governments. The TEP Foundation also provides a variety of educational trainings. Holleman’s statements were false, offensive and derogatory. Mr. Holleman should realize that LGBTQ students will enter our classrooms, that there are LGBTQ people on school staffs and that LGBTQ people parent some of our students. Mr. Holleman should also recognize that he has LGBTQ citizens in his district and in our city. His video highlights the continued need for an organization like the Tennessee Equality Project. We will continue to lobby, educate, and stand up for this often-marginalized community so that their voices can be heard. Our LGBTQ citizens are worthy, valued and loved despite such misguided, hateful statements.

His statements about the “Marxist public schools wanting to indoctrinate kids” and the “crazy Marxist leftists taking over school boards to push an LGBT agenda” are offensive to our hard-working teachers and to our school boards. It also tells me that Mr. Holleman has not been in a school recently. He should be aware that our public-school teachers follow standards set forth by the state and that as public-school teachers, they teach all students that come through the doors.

It’s sad that these comments regarding our students and schools is coming from a Clarksville City Council person. In Mr. Holleman’s words, his “newsletters are for everybody. We need to come together. We’re all Americans. This is our city.” I fail to see how this video could be unifying. … It’s extremely disappointing that a city councilman is using his platform to share such divisive rhetoric.

Julie Bisgaard