Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam recently signed a dangerous bill that gives people a license to discriminate. House Bill 1840, as it’s known, allows counselors and therapists to refuse critical mental health services to LGBT people simply because of who they are.

In response, GLAAD has launched a petition that’s garnered thousands of signatures, urging Tennessee legislators repeal this law immediately.

“Denying anyone vital mental health services simply because they’re LGBT isn’t just outrageous, it’s outright dangerous,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “What’s clear, however, is that legislative attacks that target LGBT people are bad for business. Sadly, the bedrock of Tennessee’s economy — the record companies of Nashville — remained silent throughout the fight to pass this discriminatory law. It’s time that they join the growing chorus of Americans demanding an end to discrimination.”

As we’ve seen in North Carolina and Mississippi, there is no doubt that this law will jeopardize the state’s economy and the wellbeing of LGBT people. GLAAD is calling on Governor Haslam and the Tennessee legislature to repeal this bill immediately.

GLAAD was in Nashville earlier this month with the Tennessee Equality Project, actor and musician Chris Carmack, singer-songwriter and producer Desmond Child, and Tennessee-based LGBT advocates to urge the governor to veto both the counseling bill, as well as this anti-transgender bill that was ultimately defeated in the legislature.

To make your voice heard and stand in support of Tennessee’s LGBT community, sign and share GLAAD’s petition.