Christian group criticizes Barry's record on council

A conservative Christian organization accused mayoral candidate Megan Barry on Tuesday of "advocating for the exclusion of certain members of the religion community" when in 2011 she helped pass a Metro Council nondiscrimination bill that sought employment protections for gay, lesbian and transgender people.

The lobbyist group that made the charge is Family Action of Tennessee, the sister organization of Family Action Council of Tennessee — the same organization that Barry's husband, Bruce Barry, referred to as part of the "Jesus-Industrial Complex" in past opinion writings.

His past blog post comments on the group are the subject of a new David Fox radio ad — reported by The Tennessean and others on Monday — that accuses the Barrys of opposing prayer before public high school football games, opposing the National Day of Prayer and fighting Christian organizations.

In an email message Tuesday to its supporters, the Family Action of Tennessee, which is led by David Fowler, points to Barry's co-sponsorship of legislation that required contractors to adopt nondiscrimination that protected gay, lesbian and transgender workers in order to do business with Metro.

The council voted 21-15 to adopt the ordinance, which the Family Action Council of Tennessee had lobbied to defeat. The Republican-dominated state legislature, however, swiftly moved to overturn the measure.

"Yesterday our sister organization, Family Action Council of Tennessee, was dragged into the Nashville mayor's race because of a communication by others in which Councilwoman Megan Barry's husband was quoted as berating our 'simpleminded' view (of) the 'separation of church and state,' particularly our view that Christians have every right to voice their views on matters of public policy and participate fully in the economic and business life of Metro Nashville.

"Since Mr. Barry is not running for mayor, we would have remained silent but for the fact that his desire to exclude those whose orthodox Christian beliefs inform their public lives seems to be shared by his wife, Megan Barry, who is running for Mayor.

"In 2011 Councilwoman Megan Barry sponsored Metro Ordinance BL2011-383. In doing so, Ms. Barry was actually advocating for the EXCLUSION of certain members of the religious community from being able to do business with Metro government. They were 'NOT ELIGIBLE'! to do business with Metro Nashville!"

Barry, who had spearheaded Metro's nondiscrimination bill for city employees earlier in her term, was one of the co-sponsors of the 2011 contractor bill. The lead sponsor for the contractor bill was then-Councilman Jamie Hollin. Other sponsors were Mike Jameson, Ronnie Steine and Erica Gilmore.

"This is yet another delusional distortion of Megan Barry's record," Barry campaign spokesman Sean Braisted said in a prepared statement. "Throughout her time on council, Megan has been committed to making sure everyone is treated fairly, whether in city contracts or hiring practices. What we should be asking is does David Fox agree with ultraconservative lobbyist David Fowler? Is David Fox in favor of allowing discrimination against the LGBT community? He's spent the last weeks attacking Megan Barry's character; how he answers his supporters will tell us about his own."

The email goes on to reference the following video clip featuring Councilman Phil Claiborne and Councilman Duane Dominy questioning the ordinance on the council floor and clarifying the scope of the bill with council attorney Jon Cooper.

Here is the Family Action of Tennessee email in full: