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Tennessee Puts Off Vote on Anti-LGBT Adoption Bill After Pressure From Business

Tennessee Puts Off Vote on Anti-LGBT Adoption Bill After Pressure From Business

(Bloomberg) -- Tennessee lawmakers facing pressure from businesses including Amazon.com Inc. and AllianceBernstein Holding LP delayed until next year voting on a bill to allow faith-based adoption agencies that get taxpayer money to refuse service to same-sex couples.

The proposal was set for a vote in the Republican-dominated senate late Tuesday. But the bill’s sponsor, Senator Paul Rose, asked at the last moment to delay voting until the 2020 legislative session, according to Joe Woolley, the chief executive officer of the Nashville LGBT Chamber, which helped organize corporate resistance to several bills deemed hostile to same-sex couples and transgender residents. Rose declined to comment.

Amazon and Alliance Bernstein, which last year announced big investments in Music City, also oppose a bill that would defend Tennessee public schools’ authority to restrict transgender students’ access to bathrooms. The state senate is due to vote on that proposal as early as Wednesday. The lower House chamber has passed both bills.

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net

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