The creators of a nonprofit organization meant to support gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in the legal community on Friday recorded the charter of Stonewall Bar Association of Tennessee at the Davidson County Register of Deeds.

According to its Facebook entry, "Stonewall Bar is a newly formed organization whose mission is to support GLBT legal professionals and to encourage and promote diversity in the legal profession." An article published last week in the Nashville gay-oriented publication Out & About said the association welcomes as members those who are supportive of its mission, regardless of their own sexuality.

The group takes its name from the Stonewall Inn tavern in New York City's Greenwich Village, where demonstrations following a 1969 police raid marked what many see as the beginning of the modern gay civil rights movement. Other Stonewall Bar chapters are active in several other states, including Georgia and Michigan.

The Tennessee group's incorporators are:

• Samuel L. Felker, a litigation partner at Bass, Berry & Sims;
• Carla Fiddler Fenswick, a real estate specialist at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis;
• G. Brian Jackson, a litigator and partner at Miller & Martin;
• Maria M. Salas, a bankruptcy practitioner with her own local firm; and
• James Schmidt, a senior public policy advisor at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz.

Prospective members will hold an organizational meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 9, at Miller & Martin's offices. An e-mail contact address for the group is as follows: stonewallbartenn@gmail.com.