Jerry Sexton (politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jerry Sexton
Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives
from the 35th[1] district
Assumed office
January 2015
Preceded byDennis Roach
Personal details
Born (1957-03-09) March 9, 1957 (age 64)
Claiborne County, Tennessee, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Marsha Sexton
ResidenceBean Station, Tennessee
Alma materWalters State Community College
Profession
  • Furniture manufacturing owner
  • trucking firm owner
  • Southern Baptist preacher
Websitewww.capitol.tn.gov/house/members/h35.html

Jerry Sexton (born March 9, 1957) is an American politician, currently serving as a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Sexton has represented Tennessee House District 35, an area in East Tennessee consisting of Grainger, Claiborne, and part of Union counties, since 2015.[2]

Early life[]

Jerry Sexton was born during 1957 and spent the first six years of his life in Claiborne County, Tennessee as one of ten children raised by a coal miner/furniture maker and his wife. His parents purchased their first, and only house in Grainger County when he was six years old.[3]

Sexton entered elementary school at Bean Station, Tennessee and high school in Rutledge. Sexton would later attend Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tennessee.

Tennessee General Assembly[]

Sexton has generated nationwide news media coverage due to the controversial nature of his proposed legislation within the Tennessee General Assembly that has been influenced by Christian nationalism and social conservatism, such as his sponsoring of state legislation opposing LGBT rights, access to women's health care and legal abortion services, and the separation of church and state.[4][5][6][7][8]

Sexton's legislative initiatives[]

2016[]

Sexton introduced HB0615 that, if enacted during 2016, would have designated the "Holy Bible", as the official state book of Tennessee and have this book itself featured as state trivia within the Tennessee Blue Book.[9] The bill, referred as "the Bible bill," immediately received controversy from both Democratic and Republican state politicians. Sexton's HB0615 was criticized by Republican Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery, who stated in 2016 that the bill would violate the separation of church and state in the Establishment Clause of the Constitution of the United States and the Tennessee Constitution, thus making Sexton's bill unconstitutional. Following its narrow passage in both chambers of the Tennessee General Assembly, HB0615 would be vetoed by then Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, who saw the bill as a trivialization of the Bible.[9]

2017[]

Sexton heatedly opposed a proposed 2017 increase on diesel and gasoline state fuel taxes that redirected over $200 million of tax revenue towards transportation infrastructure projects in Tennessee.[10]

2019[]

Sexton and Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody of Lebanon, introduced the "Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act" in their respective legislative chambers during February 2019.[11] The anti-LGBT bill would have barred the permitting of same-sex marriage in Tennessee. The bill aimed to "defend natural marriage," and recognize the ruling of pro-LGBT legislature and legal decisions, including the United States Supreme Court's ruling in favor of Obergefell v. Hodges, as "void, and of no effect," in an attempt to override them.[12]

2020[]

Sexton would resurrected his "Bible bill" in February 2020 as HB2778 within the Tennessee House of Representatives.[9] HB2778 would also fail, unable to rise again through the Tennessee House of Representatives.[13][14]

During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sexton was able to secure a no-bid $165,000 state government contract in April 2020 that was let out by the Office of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to purchase hospital gowns manufactured by Sexton Furniture LLC, his main business. Fellow legislators saw complications with the contract, citing the Sexton Furniture price per gown was almost double to similar products available from other vendors, along with the apparent conflict of interest on buying COVID-19 personal protection materials from a current elected member serving within the Tennessee General Assembly.[15]

Nathan Bedford Forrest bust controversy[]

Sexton voted as a member of the House Naming, Designating, & Private Acts Committee on June 9, 2020 against the relocation of a prominently displayed bust displayed at the second floor of the Tennessee General Assembly building honoring the Confederate Army Lt. General and inaugural Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest, into the nearby Tennessee State Museum for public display.[16]

During the discussion of the bill regarding the removal of the bust, Sexton received heavy criticism from fellow state representatives and social media for an allegedly racist statement he had made attempting to excuse the violent and racist actions of Forrest,[17][18] stating:

It was not against the law to own slaves back then. Who knows, maybe some of us will be slaves one of these days. Laws change.[19]

— Jerry Sexton

2021[]

Sexton was one of 29 Republican lawmakers in the Tennessee General Assembly that signed a January 5, 2021 letter to the United States Congress members representing Tennessee supporting the attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election on the behalf of falsely supported claims of election fraud by United States President Donald Trump.[20]

Sexton would introduce legislation that would ban abortions in Tennessee based on the choice of men who impregnate the woman of the possible aborted fetus.[21]

On March 2, 2021, Sexton would use racist slander regarding the funding of diversity and inclusion projects in the Tennessee government, stating, “It (diversity) goes against our (white) people, and our (white) culture,” suggesting that such ideals were propaganda.[22]

Rep. Sexton filed his HJR0150 on March 25, 2021 in his third legislative attempt to shepherd his resolution to designate the Holy Bible as the official State book - Sexton on his latest legislative attempt refers back to the trivia of our official state symbols published within the Tennessee Blue Book suggesting that the supposed Protestant and Catholic origins of some attributes of those official state symbols (e.g. ladybugs, passion flowers, song lyrics) as rationale for the Tennessee General Assembly designating the "Holy Bible" as the official book of Tennessee.[23] HJR0150 does not explicitly designate as to whether the Protestant version of the Bible or the Roman Catholic version of the Bible as the "Holy Bible" recognized as the official state book of Tennessee. State Senator and Tennessee Lt. Governor Randy McNally would sign as the Tennessee Senate sponsor of Sexton's "Bible bill." McNally, having opposed Sexton's previous and on-going attempts for the "Bible bill," has been suggested as signing as the Senate sponsor in order to kill the bill by not allowing it to through the committee's in his respective chamber.[24]

Personal Background[]

Jerry Sexton is married to Marsha Sexton and they have two adult children, Terri and Matthew and many grandchildren.

Sexton is a member of Noeton Missionary Baptist Church in Bean Station, Tennessee where he formerly served as a pastor for twenty-five years.

Sexton is the owner of Sexton Furniture Manufacturing, LLC 1988, Bushline, Inc. (since 2017) and, Grainger Roadway Logistics, LLC.[25] Sexton Furniture makes furniture for the retail trade, the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) market, the home-healthcare industry (e.g. power-lift chairs), the hospitality trade, the medical trade, and the college trade (i.e: outfitting dorm rooms and lobbies), while Bushline manufactures furniture primarily for both the retail and the rent-to-own markets. Grainger Roadway Logistics is a trucking firm.[26]

External links[]

References[]

  1. ^ State of Tennessee. "Representative Jerry Sexton". capitol.tn.gov. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  2. ^ "Jerry Sexton". VoteSmart.org. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  3. ^ http://www.sextonfortn.com/about.html "About"
  4. ^ Shelton, David (February 8, 2019). "Same-sex marriage rights attacked again in Tennessee". The Leaf Chronicle. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  5. ^ Aviles, Gwen (February 12, 2019). "'Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act' seeks to strip gay marriage rights". NBC News. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  6. ^ Ebert, Joel (February 5, 2020). "The Bible the official book of Tennessee? Four years after a failed effort, a Republican lawmaker tries again". The Tennessean. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  7. ^ "Tennessee House passes bill calling for monument for unborn children". CBS News. April 20, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  8. ^ Allison, Natalie (May 27, 2020). "House committee approves abortion bill that Senate speaker does not intend to pass". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c Koch, Mitchell (February 7, 2020). "Bill introduced again to designate Holy Bible as Tennessee's official state book". WREG-TV. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  10. ^ Sher, Andy (March 31, 2017). "Tempers flare among Tennessee House GOP members over gas tax bill". Chattanooga Times Free Press. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  11. ^ Allison, Natalie (February 8, 2019). "Tennessee's 'Natural Marriage Defense Act' is making a comeback, would prohibit same-sex weddings". The Tennessean. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  12. ^ "HB 0892". Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  13. ^ "Tennessee bill to make Bible official state book fails". WZTV. June 19, 2020. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  14. ^ https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB2778&GA=111 "HB 2778 by *Sexton J - State Government - As introduced, designates the Holy Bible as the official state book. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 1.".
  15. ^ Williams, Phil (September 8, 2020). "Tennessee goes on $80 million, no-bid spending spree for COVID-19 supplies". NewsChannel 5. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  16. ^ 'HJR0686 by Staples'
  17. ^ "Tennessee governor says 'something should be done' about Nathan Bedford Forrest bust". WMC Action News 5. June 10, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  18. ^ Palma, Sky (June 11, 2020). "'Everybody was just astonished': Tenn. Republican's comments on slavery leave his colleagues stunned". RawStory. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  19. ^ Golgowski, Nina (June 11, 2020). "Tennessee Lawmakers Vote To Keep KKK Leader's Bust In Capitol, Igniting Protests". Huffington Post. Retrieved November 15, 2020. Rep. Jerry Sexton (R), who voted against the bust’s removal, appeared to excuse the state’s history of racism. “It was not against the law to own slaves back then. Who knows, maybe some of us will be slaves one of these days. Laws change,” Sexton, who is white, told the legislative panel. “But what about the people that I represent, that it will offend them if we move this? They’ll be offended. They won’t like it. But it doesn’t seem to matter.”
  20. ^ Mojica, Adrian (January 5, 2021). "29 Tennessee lawmakers support efforts objecting Biden's electoral victory over Trump". WZTV. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  21. ^ Nanos, Elura (February 12, 2021). "Tennessee Legislator Who Suggested White People May Become Slaves One Day Introduces Bill Allowing Men to Stop Abortions". Law and Crime. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  22. ^ Kanew, Justin (March 2, 2021). "Rep Sexton's Racist Tirade". Tennessee Holler. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  23. ^ https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HJR0150&ga=112 "HJR 0150 by *Sexton J - Naming and Designating - Designates the Bible as the official State Book." March 25, 2021.
  24. ^ Allison, Natalie (April 2, 2021). "Why Lt. Gov. Randy McNally signing on to the Bible bill will likely kill it for the year". The Tennessean. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  25. ^ https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/biography/153264/jerry-sexton "Vote Smart: Jerry Sexton's Biography - Professional Experience.".
  26. ^ https://www.claiborneprogress.net/2018/02/27/bushline-gears-up-for-furniture-season/ "Bushline gears up for furniture season". February 27, 2018.
Retrieved from ""