Music Venues and Bars Will be Healthier for All
Gallatin, TN —On Tuesday February 3rd Gallatin Tennessee unanimously passed a comprehensive smokefree ordinance, closing a longstanding statewide loophole and eliminating smoking inside most 21+ establishments. Musicians and hospitality staff in Gallatin will now go to work every day knowing they have the guarantee of a smokefree workplace, just like neighboring Hendersonville and Nashville. We applaud Mayor Paige Brown and the entire Gallatin City Council for their leadership and vision of a healthy Gallatin.
Jamie Kent, ANR Consultant and Chair of Smokefree Tennessee, was in attendance to celebrate the vote, along with fellow advocates and coalition members from the American Lung Association and American Heart Association.
“We are thrilled to see Gallatin take the important step to eliminate indoor smoking at its music venues and bars moving forward. For too long musicians and hospitality workers have been left behind in our state’s smokefree workplace protections, but that is no longer the case in Gallatin. It means the world to our community to know Gallatin’s establishments are safe and welcoming. This will be good for health and for business, and I hope it inspires other cities across the state to do the same!”
Background:
The Musicians for Smokefree Tennessee coalition led by musician Jamie Kent achieved the penultimate goal of repealing preemption for age-restricted venues when SB 2219 passed through the legislature in May, 2022, returning local control to cities aiming to pass stronger smokefree laws around 21+ music venues and bars. The first was Nashville, which passed in October of 2022, followed shortly by Hendersonville, and now Gallatin.
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Smokefree Tennessee is the state’s official tobacco control and prevention coalition, bringing together experts in policy, community engagement, and evidence based educational practices with the goal of creating a healthier place for all Tennesseans to live, work and play. Today the coalition continues to lead local smokefree campaigns across the state, on top of state policy initiatives, a quarterly webinar series, and community engagement programs
Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) sister organization to ANR Foundation (ANRF), is a member-supported, non-profit advocacy group that has been working for 50 years to protect everyone’s right to breathe nontoxic air in workplaces and public places, from offices and airplanes to restaurants, bars, and casinos. ANR has continuously shined a light on the tobacco industry’s interference with sound and life-saving public health measures and successfully protected 61% of the population with local or statewide smokefree workplace, restaurant, and bar laws. ANR aims to close gaps in smokefree protections for workers in all workplaces, including bars, music venues, casinos, and hotels. For more information, please visit https://nonsmokersrights.org and https://smokefreecasinos.org. Also see ANRF’s project: Smokefree Music Cities
