Tennsee's anti-gay marriage bill sparks bipartisan cricism

Contents:

• TENNSEE'S ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE BILL SPARKS BIPARTISAN CRICISM
• TENNSEE LAWMAKERS CONSIR BILL THAT WOULD SEPARATE GAY AND STRAIGHT MARRIAG
• IS TENNSEE'S RULG AGAST GAY MARRIAGE A SETBACK FOR THE CSE?
• GAY MARRIAGE: TN PLATIFFS PROUD OF URT'S CISN
• LLIE JON SLAMS TENNSEE’S ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE BILL: ‘WE REALLY GOG BACK HUH?!’

TENNSEE'S ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE BILL SPARKS BIPARTISAN CRICISM

Supporters argue the measure is need to give relig officials, upl and others opposed to gay marriage an optn that wouldn’t nflict wh their beliefs. Crics say ’s a liberate effort to circumvent the Supreme Court’s 2015 lg legalizg gay marriage and uld lead to stly legal battl. “This argument that is gog to set up two separate paths to marriage is blatantly unnstutnal vlatn of the Obergefell cisn, which is the law of the land, ” said attorney Abby Rubenfeld, who 2013 helped lead the challenge to Tennsee’s ban on same-sex su, which was filed by Rubenfeld, was clud the SCOTUS se that eventually legalized gay marriage 2015.

TENNSEE LAWMAKERS CONSIR BILL THAT WOULD SEPARATE GAY AND STRAIGHT MARRIAG

Sponsors of the legislatn last week add amendments specifyg a man and woman seekg the ntract mt have "attaed the age of majory, " which is 18 the bill garnered nmnatn over child marriage ncerns, the legislatn was ially filed as an anti-gay marriage measure. More:Hoe Republins effectively kill anti-child marriage bill, ce possible se agast gay marriageMore:Tennsee Republins reverse on child marriage ban bill, will brg back for bateFowler this week cricized Democrats and Republins who believe ernment n ci "what qualifi as a marriage as liberals who hate liberty.

“I already have our legal team back together and ready to challenge this discrimatory law as well ― and that will aga waste lns taxpayer funds when we w and llect our fe, ” she Leatherwood’s proposal would not change whether gay upl uld get married Tennsee ― they still uld ― would enact a state-sanctned divisn between straight marriag and gay marriag on the basis of certa people’s relig beliefs. Crics say ’s a liberate effort to circumvent the Supreme Court‘s 2015 lg legalizg gay marriage and uld lead to stly legal battl. The su, which was filed by Rubenfeld, was clud the SCOTUS se that eventually legalized gay marriage 2015.

IS TENNSEE'S RULG AGAST GAY MARRIAGE A SETBACK FOR THE CSE?

The bills have also gaed promence and polil tractn as nservative activist groups and media figur have reloted to the state recent years, keepg gay and trans rights as a top prry for lawmakers. )After the Obergefell lg nullified Tennsee’s same-sex marriage ban, Republin legislators sought new ways to lim gay passed bills the followg year allowg mental health profsnals, cludg school and substance abe unselors, to turn down LGBTQ clients if nflicts wh their “scerely held prcipl” or “relig beliefs” — even s where people are at risk of harmg themselv or others.

GAY MARRIAGE: TN PLATIFFS PROUD OF URT'S CISN

’”In the next six years, 10 other laws were enacted that affect gay and transgenr rights. Those clu the state’s bathroom bill and a law that allows child placement agenci, which ntract wh the state, to refe assistg wh adoptn or foster re placement wh LGBTQ parents and GOP lawmakers natnwi have begun sponsorg hundreds of new measur recent years to rce protectns for transgenr or gay youth or to lim discsns of LGBTQ topics public schools, that trend accelerated 27 bills targetg LGBTQ rights troduced this year Tennsee clu the drag bill, which bans “adult baret performanc” public or ont of children and blocks the shows om wh 1, 000 feet of public parks, schools and plac of worship. Lawmakers this year also passed a law prohibg people unr 18 om receivg any genr transng medil treatments, which is set to go to effect on July new boom bills targetg gay rights has been driven part by nservative media outlets and far-right podsters who have kept prsure on legislators to prrize the Walsh, a nservative pund wh 1.

The Fay Actn Council of Tennsee, a nservative advocy anizatn led by former state senator David Fowler, helped wre at least two of the bills targetg gay rights that have bee law Tennsee sce 2015, acrdg to lawmakers, advot and Fowler’s blog posts. After the bill passed, Fowler wrote a blog post that the law was need bee judg are phg a “gay agenda” their 2021, Fowler lobbied and told media he provid “legal wordsmhg” for a law banng transgenr stunt-athlet om playg on sports teams that don’t align wh their sex assigned at birth. In other words, if a unty clerk cid agast grantg a same-sex uple a marriage license — or cid favor of grantg a mor a marriage license — that clerk would have the state of Tennsee on their si if someone were to brg a su agast wasn’t explic enough that this is a bill that is meant to exclu gay people, Leatherwood’s ments to lol outlet WKRN make his tentns pretty clear.

LLIE JON SLAMS TENNSEE’S ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE BILL: ‘WE REALLY GOG BACK HUH?!’

Lefteris Parakis/APThe great streak of urt victori for gay marriage was broken on Tuday: A state urt Kgston, Tennsee, beme the first to uphold a state ban on gay marriage sce the Supreme Court’s cisn last year Uned Stat v. )More than two dozen urts the 14 months sce Wdsor have stck down laws agast gay marriage.

But is worth nsirg as wdow to the arguments of gay-marriage through that lens, the important thg about Simmons’s opn is s even tone. That level of outrage is jtified only if opposn to gay marriage is moral leprosy, like whe supremacy or Holot nial.

But is all opposn to gay marriage spired by hate? ” Anti-gay measur like §3 of DOMA, Kennedy has wrten, are adopted for the sole purpose of makg gays ls than equal, and th are unnstutnal.