State Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) sparred with constituents during his Friday evening town hall in his district, highlighting the ongoing frustration among some voters in an election year that has seen a continued focus on culture-war issues.
Bulso detailed several of his sponsored House bills, with his “flag bill,” which aims to ban Pride flags from schools, seeing the most feedback from constituents.
The March 15 event at the John P. Holt Brentwood Library drew some criticism from members of the public before it officially began, as it took place during Williamson County Schools’ spring break. Bulso told reporters it was the first available date following the March 5 primary election, and that he will host another town hall in Franklin in April. The exact details of that event have not been released.
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The at-times tense town hall saw roughly 100 community members in attendance, many of whom vocally opposed Bulso, who is running for reelection this year. But he was not without his supporters. Bulso took questions from the audience and was immediately challenged on his views and legislative priorities, with the flag bill taking center stage.
"As a lesbian constituent, I really wish you would not use words like ‘indoctrinate’ — we're your constituents, and we're here too,” said one attendee, who did not identify herself.
Constituent Joshua Patrick asked Bulso for his opinion on a recent statement made by Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Tom Woods, who called the LGBTQ community “filth” during his own town hall following the death of Oklahoma nonbinary student Nex Benedict. Benedict had reported bullying due to their gender identity and was involved in a school altercation before dying the next day in what the medical examiner has determined was a suicide.
“I do not consider anyone in the LGBTQ community 'filth,'" Bulso responded. "I deplore that statement; it's repugnant. All people deserve love, they deserve love, they're children of God. They need to be treated with dignity and respect. ... This bill only has to do with allowing parents to decide what values their children are imbued with at school, and frankly, it's the folks on the progressive left that have engaged in this battle by bringing that flag into the school system.”
Bulso's response was met with applause from his supporters. Throughout much of the town hall, he was delayed in responding to questions by applause, boos and some heckling from many in the crowd.
State Rep. Gino Bulso speaks to constituents during a March 15, 2024, town hall at the John P. Holt Brentwood Library
"I’m wearing a red patch today in honor of my neighbor, Hallie, who died last March,” said constituent Pam Sheridan. Nine-year-old Hallie Scruggs was the daughter of the lead pastor of the Covenant Presbyterian Church, and one of the six victims killed in the March 2023 Covenant School shooting. Bulso was challenged on his stance and his role in the inaction of last year's special legislative session on public safety and gun reform following the mass shooting.
“What are we doing to keep kids safe at school?" said Bulso. "The answer is we're doing everything that we can."
Bulso argued that the “most effective deterrent” is increasing the amount of school resource officers.
“The problem is that what many want to do — and Pam, you may be in this category — you want to enact things like a red-flag law,” Bulso said. Bulso argued that red-flag laws are “blatantly unconstitutional and ineffective.”
“Ignore this at your own peril — you have an opportunity to lead,” Sheridan said. “I can't fathom why you could think that the right to own guns was more important than a right for parents to put all of their children to bed.”
Bulso was also asked what he thinks the late civil rights icon and U.S. Rep. John Lewis would think of him and his policies.
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“I think we'd get along fabulously,” Bulso said. “John Lewis was part of that old school, from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who actually understood that you judge people by the content of their character, not on the color of their skin, and that's where the left has lost its way.
“Everything on the left now is identity politics," he continued. "It's Black and white, it’s gay or straight, it's transgender or something else, and that's why you see this cultural decline, which is causing so much dissension that you see across the country.”
Bulso also addressed other issues and has sponsored bills including bills dealing with jurisdiction of courts over the Tennessee General Assembly, expanding therapy dogs in schools, strengthening unlawful photography laws and the potential requirement of showing an anti-abortion fetal development video, known as “Meet Baby Olivia,” in schools.
Following the town hall, Bulso told reporters the experience “probably wasn't as bad as I had expected.”
“We’d heard that there were going to be a lot of Democrats showing up because of all the publicity that has come to some of the bills I've sponsored, and for the most part, I think everyone was very well-behaved, everyone was civil; we had a nice respectful debate,” Bulso said. “There was some catcalling and interruptions from time to time, and tempers flare and I understand that, [but] it was about what I expected.”
Bulso said that despite claims by progressives that democracy is being damaged or destroyed in Tennessee, “We've got democracy in action both in the [state] House and in the Brentwood library.”
“Unfortunately, no one's mind was changed, I don't think, but that's not necessarily the object," he said. "I'm an elected official; you need to be accessible to the voters, and that’s why we do these town halls.”
A version of this article was first published by our sister publication, The News.
