Sunday was a day of healing for members of a Knoxville church after just last week a gunman went on a deadly rampage.

Church members packed the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Sunday for a rededication ceremony. Just a week ago, a gunman opened fire during service, killing two people and injuring nine.

Although, the church experienced a great tragedy, church members made it clear during Sunday's service that they wouldn't let the tragedy stop them from worshiping.

"It is true that the crime was shockingly profane, but your responses were and continue to be deeply reverent. No murderer can take away what is sacred about this place," said Annette...

Last night, WREG-TV in Memphis reported that the man who was charged with the February 16, 2006, murder of Tiffany Berry, has now been arraigned on a second murder charge.  On Thursday, authorities in Shelby County charged DeAndre Blake with the murder of his own two year old daughter. 

At the time of this second murder, Blake was walking the streets of Memphis as a free man on a $20,000 bond.  According to Berry's family, Blake admitted he had killed Berry because he did not like the way she had "touched" him.

"We believe these 'trans panic' and 'gay panic' defenses need to be rejected and that local law enforcement needs to begin aggressive prosecution...

The fight for fully inclusive anti-discrimination policies at higher education institutions in Tennessee continues at the local level after the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) announced in April that it had revised its policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

But the Board’s policy change does not effect the policy at the schools themselves, even though one woman spent the past year trying to do just that.

The momentum for the TBR policy change began with Linda Brunton, a professor at Columbia State Community College in Columbia, Tenn.

Brunton, who teaches in the psychology department at Columbia State, has been with the college 27 years. She said...

It was a brave move that nearly threw his life into upheaval when Azariah Southworth ‘came out’ last April.

He received negative response from many close to him and lost his job as the host of a Christian TV show, Remix TV.  But all was not lost. Southworth maintained the rights to the show, even after being pulled from Christian stations. Now he is planning to move to Los Angeles where he will begin filming the pilot for a new The Remix TV program.

A going-away fundraiser will be held Aug. 31 at Aerial Nashville to help Southworth pay for his move to California. The event is being sponsored in part by popular celebrity gossip Web site PerezHilton.com.

Southworth,...

UPDATE 7/28 10:21 a.m. : The Associated Press has reported that Knoxville's police chief says the man accused of a shooting that killed two people at a Tennessee church targeted the congregation because of its liberal social stance. Chief Sterling Owen IV said Monday that police found a letter in Jim D. Adkisson's car. Owen said Adkisson was apparently frustrated over being out of work and had a "stated hatred of the liberal movement." The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that Chief Owen said the letter stated his "hatred of the liberal movement," Owen said. "Liberals in general, as well as gays."UPDATE 7/28 7:50 a.m.:  Seven people have been injured..

In the wake of the tragic shooting at a Knoxville church, many GLBT community members are weighing in on whether the attack should be considered a hate crime against gays.

Knoxville Police charged Jim D. Adkisson, 58, with one count of first degree murder after he shot and killed two people and wounded seven others with a shotgun at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville on Sunday, July 26.

Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV told reporters at a press conference that a four page letter written by the shooter indicated the attack was over the shooter's "lack of being able to obtain a job and frustration over that and his stated hatred for the...

The Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) and the Tennessee Equality Project Foundation have extended their support, thoughts and prayers to the victims, families, and the entire community of Knoxville after a shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church claimed the lives of two congregation members, and injured seven. 

Leaders also encouraged District Attorneys to prosecute the incident as a hate crime, as Tennessee’s hate crimes statute explicitly includes religion and sexual orientation. A signed, four page letter authored by the gunman stated his hate for “liberals” and “gays.” 

Carla Lewis, a member of the Tennessee...

The man who shot and killed two people and injured seven others (five of them remain critical) at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church selected the church because of its liberal stance and support of the gay community.

Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said this morning in a press conference, when asked by a reporter, that the shooter was targeting “liberals and gays.”

Owen said a four-page letter written by Jim David Adkisson, 58, stated that his reasons for the attack were for “lack of being able to obtain a job and frustration over that and his stated hatred for the liberal movement,” Owen said. “We recovered a four-page letter...

Editor's note: Below is an account from Carla Lewis of Sunday's tragic church shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville . Lewis, who is a member of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition and often attended church services and group meetings at TVUUC, was present at the time of the shooting.

by Carla Lewis

Jaime and I were running late to church Sunday morning.  This is usual - it's always me that takes too long.  Driving to TVUUC, I was wondering if I really wanted to go.  I really like the "sermons" or "lectures" about society or philosophy but this was going to be a children's musical program and I just...