David Plazas

USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee

Sen. Mae Beavers and Rep. Mark Pody said they publicly wanted to explain their efforts to delegitimize same-sex marriage and regulate bathroom use on Wednesday.

However, they chose to leave just minutes into their press conference at Legislative Plaza after angry citizens shouted at and protested the two Lebanon Republican state lawmakers.

Politicians abruptly end press conference, call for security

I sat in the audience to observe and take notes, and I would have liked to have heard from the legislators, but it was not to be. After they left, the crowd followed Pody and Beavers to their offices and eventually drove them out of the building.

Now, Beavers, at least, feels threatened, and has essentially issued a threat of imprisonment for agitators based upon an arcane provision in the Tennessee Constitution.

This feels like an attempt to stifle dissent and free expression, and, at minimum, it has Lt. Gov. Randy McNally talking about potential new security procedures to create barriers to public access because of the incident.

Beavers told the Associated Press this week that no one “should be allowed to come up here and act like that. To try to scare our staff, for us to be escorted out of the building; read the Tennessee Constitution. It says anybody that disrespects a legislator when we’re in session is to be imprisoned.”

She is referring to Article II Section 14, which states:

“Each House may punish, by imprisonment, during its session, any person not a member, who shall be guilty of disrespect to the House, by any disorderly or any contemptuous behavior in its presence.”

The term “disrespect” is not defined and it seems to be a stretch to apply this provision to a press conference.

Moreover, Beavers’ interpretation of the clause is at odds with the Declaration of Rights in the state Constitution. Article I Section 23 states:

“That the citizens have a right, in a peaceable manner, to assemble together for their common good, to instruct their representatives, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government for redress of grievances, or other proper purposes, by address of remonstrance.”

Ironically, Beavers was not sour with protesters who opposed a proposed state income tax in 2002. She was a state representative running for the Senate and was more than eager to support rallies and protests, which occasionally became aggressive. A conservative talk radio host even broadcast Beavers’ opponent’s address and urged people to protest him at his home.

Looking at Associated Press accounts from that time, there were many favorable comments about those protesters from Beavers and her allies, who, incidentally, did not call for them to be imprisoned.

The tax protest "is a way for ordinary, everyday citizens to express their opinion on an issue, and the issue at hand is being against a state income tax,” said U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who was then a state senator running for Congress (April 16, 2002).

"The income tax would have gone right on through if not for the protesters," said Bettina Scott, identified as a die-hard demonstrator (July 6, 2002).

Beavers herself applauded the “grass roots support” in a July 9, 2002, story, adding: “People have been energized by the income tax issue; they've been walking up to me to work in my campaign. People who have never been involved before are now interested.”

'Natural' marriage, bathroom bills

Given that history, it’s odd that the senator misses the point about why the citizens showed up.

They came to protest Beavers and Pody’s so-called “Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act” proposal (Senate Bill 752/House Bill 892) and the bathroom bill because they feel their civil rights are being threatened.

The first of these bills is about affirming Tennesseans’ overwhelming approval in 2006 of the “Tennessee Marriage Protection Act.” The act enshrined in the state constitution that marriage was only between a man and a woman, regardless of any subsequent court ruling.

The problem is that in 2015 the Supreme Court of the United States struck down discriminatory marriage amendments across the country like Tennessee's because they violated people's civil rights.

Trying to turn back the clock on the Supreme Court ruling is akin to proposing re-segregating bathrooms, water fountains and accommodations.

Speaking of bathrooms Senate Bill 771/House Bill 888 would regulate public school and college lavatory and locker room use based upon the gender of one’s birth certificate, thus targeting transgender, intersex and other non-gender conforming people.

Supporters of a similar bill last year claimed it was a public safety concern, but it was just fear-mongering. A year later there is no evidence that there is a widespread bathroom public safety problem.

Tennessee lawmakers push 'bathroom bill,' marriage act

Bills like these are further ways to chip away at the civil rights of people who fought for them.

Protect people's rights

Lawmakers should not be about curbing the rights of their citizens.

And, they should not be about threatening citizens’ First Amendment rights and limiting people’s access.

Beavers is virtually doing the latter on her Twitter account, blocking anyone whom she perceives as a threat or nuisance.

The irony is that she is a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, a president who uses Twitter to communicate openly with the public.

On Thursday I left a message for Pody and Beavers to ask to talk about their bills.

Pody's office responded that he is open to having the conversation.

Beavers has not responded, and last night, I discovered that she blocked me on Twitter.

Reach Opinion Engagement Editor David Plazas at dplazas@tennessean.com, (615) 259-8063 or tweet to him at @davidplazas.