Lunch With My City Councilman

Thanks to Jeff Woods at the Nashville Scene who's been covering the Nashville City Council and their progress toward passing a non-discrimination ordinance that protects "sexual orientation" and "gender identity." Supporters of ORDINANCE NO. BL2009-502 are poised to soon see this bill become law.

Included in Woods' latest write-up is part of a discussion that I had with my own city Councilman, Duane Dominy regarding the bill.

Then there's Antioch council member Duane Dominy, who represents District 28. One of his constituents, Bill Newsome, was so outraged by a lunch meeting with the council member that he contacted the Scene. Dominy didn't return the Scene's calls seeking comment about this meeting. But according to Newsome, Dominy told him he opposed the bill because sexual orientation "could be construed in a court of law to mean bestiality and pedophilia."

"I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, 'Am I really hearing this?' " Newsome says. "I really could not believe what I was hearing. I thought, 'Here's a guy who's on the city council and he's saying this.'

"I said, 'Hang on a second. You're putting bestiality and pedophilia in the same category as this?' Our meeting ended civilly and we shook hands but, as important as this issue is to me, I probably should have cleaned his clock. I was overwhelmed with this sense of anger inside."

Here's part two of the story. Councilman Dominy also wanted to followup his "research" with me in an email. Here's the followup email he sent.

From: Duane Dominy <duanead2@yahoo.com>

Date: Wednesday, August 5, 2009 10:14 PM

To: Bill Newsome

Subject: Today's meeting

Dear Bill,

It was a pleasure meeting with you today. I enjoyed our discussion though we remain on opposite sides of this issue. I wanted to share with you the article I mentioned concerning bestiality. I understand the concern of linking this activity with homosexuality and do not desire to do so. Which is why, I currently do not intend to bring this up during discussion of this bill on the council floor, though it will likely be discussed in committee and with our legal staff. I was mistaken as to the source of the article, as I read numerous articles that evening. The information is available at www.reference.com/browse/beastiality . This discusses Zoophilia, its variations and includes distinctions between it and bestiality. However, reading the forth paragraph, a thinking individual must give pause when considering the wording of the proposed bill we discussed.

FYI. I was informed tonight, that the sponsor does plan to defer the bill Thursday evening. Also, I would expect that some may attempt to defeat the bill as well. I am unsure how this may progress and ultimately play-out. You are welcome and encouraged to attend either way.

Kind regards,
Duane Dominy
101 Cherokee Place
Antioch, TN 37013
615-831-0774

Seriously now. We have an elected official who represents a large district in a city, which just happens to be the state capital. It'd be outrageous if this were some rural town in Cullman County Alabama, but this is Nashville for god's sake. You'd think that a "thinking individual" would leave a meeting like that and say, "Woops. I probably shouldn't have talked so much about bestiality," but instead he digs a deeper hole for himself by sending me his so-called research on the subject (yes, from Reference.Com), time-stamped and dated with his name on it.

Many Nashville residents were also outraged by Councilman Hodge and his moldy comments, but at least he was telling the truth. Councilman Dominy, on the other hand, cowardly hides behind this phony notion that gays and lesbians are "under the same umbrella," as he put it that day, as sex offenders and those who practice zoophilia - whatever the hell that is.

You are an embarrassment to this city, Councilman.

It's important for citizens to know what their elected officials are saying when they're meeting with constituents. That's the only reason I initiated contact with the Scene. "Let me be clear," I said to Jeff, "I am not calling you to promote some kind of smear campaign." I stand by that.

Once upon a time, a true thinking individual said this. "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." Here's real proof that not enough people from Nashville's District 28 participated on August 2, 2007, the day this guy was elected - with just 791 votes.