Public officials in Tennessee can now refuse to grant a marriage license to anyone at their own discretion, for any reason.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed into law House Bill 878 on Wednesday, which took effect immediately. The bill — just a few sentences in length — only states that “a person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage.” Only state notary publics, government officials, and religious figures can “solemnize” a marriage in Tennessee, according to state code.
None of the sponsors behind the bill have been made public statements on its introduction or passage, nor have they given comment to media organizations. The only known remarks regarding the law from state Rep. Monty Fritts (take a guess), who sponsored it in the House, are from February of last year, when he spoke to the state Subcommittee on Children and Family Affairs.
What’s done in secret brings public shame. Those legislators are a disgrace.
Agreed. Unfortunately, the Tennessee House of Reps have been making an ass of themselves for quite some time and it may not change any time soon. Though one can hope voters start doing the right thing and ousting these conniving bigots.
“As societal views change about what constitutes a marriage, officiants must be able to refuse to solemnize marriages that are contrary to their beliefs. The government has a responsibility to protect the exercise of religious beliefs," he said, via CNN. "Those with the authority to perform civil ceremonies would also be permitted to refuse to solemnize marriage for reasons of conscience.”
So if someone’s religion did not believe “christianity” was a valid religion, they could refuse to give a license to a christian couple.
Be careful what power you give the people, they can use it against you.This is the only way anything like this changes. Hopefully some folks at city hall will do just this and turn it around on the doofuses.
Kim Davis flashbacks.
“Not if we gerrymander and marginalize them, until our great Leader returns and removes them all.” - (voters who wish to remain anonymous)
Satanic Temple, if you’re reading this…
Looks like they remembered that three new conservative Supreme Court justices had been added, and figured it was time to start chipping away at gay marriage.
And…This is what happens when the Supreme Court decides stare decisis is optional. If the Court doesn’t respect prior decisions, be prepared for every single issue to be re-litigated after members are added to or leave the Court.
Oh please let someone refuse to marry a hetero couple.
They will if they’re mixed race.
I had an Ortho Jewish professor for several college classes relay casually in class one day t that neither he nor his RC wife converted to marry and her church declined to bury her with head to marker because of her heresy. It’s not that big of a stretch back to that. We’re regressing.
Abrahamic genre for extra-spicy kick?
Fucking SCOTUS bait. This is to overturn Hodges
And Loving v. Virginia is next.
The act of Clarence Thomas voting to overturn Loving will be America’s pinnacle act of irony. Nothing will top it.
I can imagine him literally writing in his concurrence: “It is time to pull the ladder up behind us.”
Thomas is going to be all in on overturning Loving v. Virginia.
In case anyone else was wondering, you might know this case better as Obergefell (since SCOTUS cases are typically informally called by the plaintiff’s name).
Thankfully, not everyone around here is a bigot. My officiator was an employee at the DMV who was very happy to be a part of my gay wedding in the DMV parking lot. Three years this August.
In before “you need to be licensed to officiate in AL” and “our licensing board can refuse to license on moral grounds”.
They yearn to be the first christofacist state. They have some competition with Alabama raising their game with embryos
I think we non-Americans never hear names of these states in postive context.
We Americans don’t either.
In general, the cities in red states are very progressive. New Orleans and Miami are two of the least small-c conservative cities you’ll find in the U.S., more akin to San Francisco than a place like Boston. (Boston has amazing universities and is progressive in policy but it was founded by puritans and isn’t exactly known for it’s late night parties and festivals.)
By contrast, more Californians voted for Trump than Texans. It’s mostly an urban/rural divide at this point and whether your state government is a horror show or not depends on whether your cities are large enough to create a majority after districts are drawn.
Also, there’s a lot of outrageous bills introduced by one state rep that will never get a vote. But they know they’ll result in clickbait articles and help them gain notoriety.
The people are friendly during the day, the food tastes good, the natural beauty is something else, and if your car breaks down chances are someone young will fix it for free someone old will give you a ride into town plus most of them have a 3rd worlder work ethic that allows them to build in temperatures that should kill you.
At the same time southern rage is a real plus scary thing and none of them are that far from lynching.
and if your car breaks down chances are someone young will fix it for free someone old will give you a ride into town
If you pass as white.
If you live in this shit states the most important thing you can do in your whole life is leave.
Its really unfortunate because one of the best national labs in the country is in Tennessee.
Ornl complains about brain drain all the time!
Tennesseeans are dumb as shit.
As someone who did, I understand the sentiment but it isn’t that easy. I have so many friends and family members who are stuck there because they can’t save enough resources to leave.
Funny how many people renting apartments with an hourly job will say that though
Wdym?
The idea being you can get an hourly job and an apartment just about anywhere. The only real expense is moving your shit. Most everything else is time.
Edit: Jesus Christ this place is cancer sometimes. Imagine being downvoted for explaining someone else’s point because people don’t agree with it. Just reddit with angrier voices.
This headline is so headline grabby. Sure the local fucking bigot won’t do it, but practically anyone can qualify as eligible for solemnizing a marriage.
I think it’s real shitty what they did and are trying to do, don’t get me wrong, but LGBTQ are not going away and there’s a lot more supporters than haters out there. Even in red states many supporters remain silent to avoid the loud dumb bigots.
“We don’t want to get rid of gay marriage” yea fuckers, we knew you were full of shit deplorables. This is beyond the fucking pale.
Wait… aren’t you people the same one’s telling everyone they can’t tell you what to do with your body, but here you want to demand someone give up their choice? If one person refuses, move on to the next. A lot of you don’t understand the word freedom, or hypocrite.
Let’s say it’s my religion that I think you should not be allowed to drive because I don’t like you. Now let’s say I work at the DMV and you walk up, should I be allowed to deny you a license because it’s my religion?
An officiant isn’t a government entity.
I’ll go to the next clerk.
And if it’s a one-horse town and there’s no alternative clerk?
Did you read the article? it’s not the clerk that this relates to it’s the officiant. so first of all your example it total bullshit stickman argument. Second, anyone with an internet connection can become ‘ordained’ and eligible to be an officiant in a wedding. I know this because I have done it myself, and my coworker sitting next to me does this OFTEN. Third there is no “gotcha” here. You’re simply mad because people are being given freedom to choose.
Nobody should have the right to infringe upon others’ rights. Look up the paradox of tolerance.
it’s not infringing though. they aren’t saying you can’t, they are saying they won’t.
