April 28, 2021
Since Tennessee Republicans passed a bill prohibiting transgender student athletes from competing on teams that affirm their gender identity, at least three conferences have backed out of coming to the state. Oracle, the tech giant expected to bring thousands of new jobs to Nashville, joined 86 other businesses in signing an open letter against the legislation.
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While it's doubtful Oracle will back out of the relocation deal, canceled conferences alone could cost the state millions in visitor spending, hotel room purchases and more, says Joe Woolley, CEO of the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce.
Woolley says three conferences have contacted him about pulling out of the state since SB228/HB3 passed in March, which will cause millions in lost revenue for the city of Nashville. Woolley says he can't make the specific conferences' names public yet as each needs time to plan where they'll take their attendees, but that a similar event happened when Tennessee passed a bill that allowed counselors to deny LGBTQ+ clients based on religious grounds in 2016. Woolley says the fallout caused three conferences to back out then, costing Tennessee 7,000 room nights and $3.4 million in direct visitor spending. Other conferences that had considered Tennessee but chose another state due to the bill cost the state eleven bookings, 116,000 room nights and $66.4 million in direct visitor spending.