1y ago

Tennessee governor signs bill allowing public officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed a bill Wednesday allowing public officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages.

State lawmakers approved Tennessee House Bill 878 last week. The legislation states people “shall not be required to solemnize a marriage” if they refuse to doing so based on their “conscience or religious beliefs.” According to the Tennessee Legislature website, the governor signed the bill Wednesday.

66 comments

Sounds like a good reason for queer people to start getting jobs as county clerks in Tennessee so they can refuse to solemnize cishet marriages based on their conscience or religious beliefs.
- Ooooh this is a great idea!
  
  They'd have to do it very stealthily though. Pretend to be die-hard cishet Republicans until after the election. Santos them, but go even further than Santos did by pretending you aren't even queer.
- I will take time out of my day and thank you. Fucking SMORT! Get'em girls!
- Ministers and churches are not public officials.
  Ministers and churches already had that right.
  You are simply incorrect.
- "LGBT" doesn't have to be a conscience or religion belief. You can just state that heterosexual marriage against your beliefs.
  
  "Mr. Woke Bond" is the best insult you can come up with?
  That's pretty pathetic.
  
  Man, gays must really scare you, huh?
  
  Being against heterosexual marriage can certainly be a personal belief. It does not have to be a religious or conscience stance.
  If you want a religious stance: refuse to marry people who have been divorced.
  
  Which bond villain was a magician?
  
  cringe
These people think about gay people more than gay people think about gay people.
- That's only true if you assume these people aren't deeply closeted.
The GOP hate/persecution list:
HOMELESS, IMMIGRANTS, DRUG ADDICTS, BLACK PEOPLE MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY DISABLED PEOPLE, GAY PEOPLE, UNIONISTS, SOCIAL DEMOCRATS:
https://www.hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/nazi-persecution/
- You don't have to leave out Jews just because they aren't the Nazis from Germany.
  After all... "Jews will not replace us." Something said by those very nice people on one of the both sides.
  (Muslims too, don't mean to leave you folks out, you're also victims of the Republican hate machine.)
  
  They hate everyone. I don’t get how they still have support.
- It would be quicker and more complete to list who they don't persecute.
- That's a woefully incomplete list.
Didn't this already get knocked down in another state?
Edit: Kim Davis in Kentucky tried this and failed.
- And is now fined over $100k for her bullshit LOL. Who's going to be the next idiot to throw their life savings away?
  
  Life savings? Governor? No sir, that was a couple years' savings at most (I assume. Most politicians like that might not be paid EXTREME amounts for their public office, but their speaking engagements and stock portfolios are no joke)
It's pretty easy to get registered to perform weddings in TN... And many other states.
Universal life Church is well known online ordination "place" that has been accepted with zero scrutiny in two other states by me and in TN by a friend.
I'll just leave this info here, do with it what you will.
What a great opportunity for the Supreme Court to uphold this law and then cry about how nobody thinks they're credible anymore.
Solemnizing a marriage = officiating
People can already refuse to officiate weddings, this bill is symbolic posturing
We don't care 'bout no constitution. We gon discriminate when and where we want, and you'd best not come after OurPreciousSecondAmendment, neither.
But seriously, they can't refuse to issue marriage permits, right?
- Yes. This law is unconstitutional under the equal protection clause.
- Of course they can. It's pretty clear laws are reactive so this will be tested 1000%.
just discrimination by adding 1 extra step.
If I was a state over I would be on top of this, never wanted to work in the government but this seems like a reason to stick my spanner in the works. They would be salty the times when I just dont feel like giving anyone a marriage, and I have a moral objection to...... rich men marrying younger females, ganna have to stick to my guns on that one too.
- I can see all kinds of things to object to based on my conscience if I moved to Tennessee and got a job giving out marriage licenses!
  Not enough sexual partners to know firmly if you two are sexually compatible? Sorry, I'm going to have to object, on my conscience, to giving you a marriage license.
  There's an age gap of more than four years between you? Sorry, I'm going to have to object, on my conscience, to giving you a marriage license.
  One or both of you already have children? Sorry, I'm going to have to object, on my conscience, to giving you a marriage license.
  You don't have the same blood type? Sorry, I'm going to have to object, on my conscience, to giving you a marriage license.
  Neither of you speak Swedish? Sorry, I'm going to have to object, on my conscience, to giving you a marriage license.
  You're white and Christian? Sorry, I'm going to have to object, on my conscience, to giving you a marriage license.
I really didn't think we'd move backwards like this, but here we are.
If you're that worried about it, then make it a form that people can fill out themselves. While we're at it, roll marriage agreements into contract law and remove the two-person cap.
- That would come to close to achieving a middle ground, needs more obstruction and human suffering..
  
  too close
- That last bit is such a ridiculously bad idea on so, so many levels.
  First, as we have seen throughout history, any time multiple marriage is permitted, in practice it turns into polygyny, with a single man having multiple wives. This has a well-known destabilizing effect on societies. If you want to see what the practical result of having multiple marriages is, look at fundamentalist Mormons.
  Second, from a legal standpoint, a divorce with just two people can already be incredibly complicated and expensive if one person is fighting it. If you add another person, it becomes vastly more complicated to legally sever.
  
  There may be a gender cap then, no more than one person of each gender
  
  Why does a man with multiple wives have a destabilizing effect on society?
That is the face of a human who went wrong

66 comments