Megan Barry, standing byDURING last year’s mayoral race in Nashville, Megan Barry was accused of being an atheist; she duly went to church for a laying-on of hands. But if Music City remains traditional enough for politicians’ faith to be a sticking-point, it is sufficiently liberal to have installed Ms Barry, who as a councillor conducted its first same-sex wedding, as its first female mayor. Her experiences suggest a possible strategy for Democrats elsewhere, as well as the frictions they may experience.
One has been with the Republican supermajorities in the Tennessee capitol, around the corner from her office—part of a widening stand-off between left-leaning southern mayors and conservative legislatures. In 2011 Nashville was involved in an early tussle over protections for gay and transgender people; this year a state bathroom bill like the one that ignited controversy in North Carolina failed, but a measure letting counsellors turn away patients on the grounds of “sincerely held principles” was passed. That cost Nashville at least three convention bookings, Mayor Barry laments, gently noting that the state...Continue reading
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