The Tennessee Equality Project is an LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 organization in the United States state of Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

.

Overview

The Tennessee Equality Project was founded on June 15, 2004, in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

.

The organization has lobbied against a 2006 referendum to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, the dismissal of a lesbian soccer coach by Belmont University

Belmont University

Belmont University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state, behind nearby Vanderbilt University.-Belmont Mansion:Belmont Mansion...

 in 2010, the Don't Say Gay bill sponsored in 2011 by Sen. Stacey Campfield

Stacey Campfield

Stacey Campfield is a Republican member of the Tennessee Senate from the 7th district, encompassing Knoxville and part of Knox County.-Biography:...

 and Rep. Bill Dunn

Bill Dunn

Bill Dunn is an American politician and a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. He has served as a state representative since being elected to the 99th Tennessee General Assembly...

, and other public issues. It endorsed Nashville mayor Karl Dean

Karl Dean

Karl Foster Dean is the sixth mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee. He was sworn in on September 21, 2007. From 1999 to January 9, 2007, Karl Dean served as Nashville's Director of Law under Mayor Bill Purcell. In 1990, 1994, and 1998, he was elected the...

 for re-election in 2011.

The Project has received funds from the Human Rights Campaign

Human Rights Campaign

The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...

 and has partnered with the California-based Courage Campaign

Courage Campaign

The Courage Campaign is a California-based human rights campaign and progressive advocacy organization with more than 700,000 followers, working on a variety of causes, including the repeal of Proposition 8, California budget reforms,, and ballot procedures...

to develop political advertising based on the life story of an LGBT Tennessee resident.