Tennessee Takes Step Toward Letting People Refuse To Marry LGBTQ+ Couples

[Jessica_Rose]

Tennessee Takes Step Toward Letting People Refuse To Marry LGBTQ+ Couples

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tennessee-takes-step-toward-letting-people-refuse-to-marry-lgbtq-couples/ar-BB1ibzVI?cvid=4bf9edbca6ee403491c737d09ce02604&ei=3

Story by Lil Kalish (12 Feb 2024)

The Tennessee Senate passed a bill Monday evening that would allow people to refuse to perform a marriage that they don't personally agree with.

Senate Bill 596 says "a person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage if the person has an objection to solemnizing the marriage based on the person's conscience or religious beliefs."

State Rep. Monty Fritts (R), the sponsor of an identical companion bill in the state House, said last year that the bill was created "simply and clearly to protect the rights of the officiate or officiates of wedding ceremonies."

However, Tennessee law currently does not require anyone to officiate a marriage if they don't want to.

"The way it's worded, you can discriminate against anybody for any reason, which is terrible," said Eric Patton, a Tennessee-based minister, told Nashville television station WKRN. "The idea that you can discriminate against anybody is just wrong-headed and general Tennessee nonsense."

Tennessee is responsible for 29 of the more than 415 anti-LGBTQ bills that have been introduced in state legislatures so far this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union's legislative tracker.