Bill to Exclude Gay Couples from Legal Marriage Postponed
metroweekly.comObergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision in 2015.“This bill was to say have your license, but do not deny our understanding of marriage or force ministers to choose between signing a document they disagree with or performing a marriage that has no legal effect,” former State Sen.
David Fowler, now director of the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee, told The Tennesseean. But supporters erred in introducing the bill, failing to include provisions imposing a specific minimum age requirement.
As a result, Leatherwood and other supporters were criticized for placing minors at risk of grooming, sexual abuse, or underage marriages.Proponents of the bill later introduced an amendment to the bill that required people entering these alternative contracts to have obtained the age of majority, which in Tennessee is 18 years old.
But the backlash from the initial version of the bill, sans age limit, was so strong that it hampered lawmakers’ willingness to move forward with the measure.Under tough questioning from his Republican colleagues last week, Leatherwood called for his bill to be sent to summer study, while also decrying the “misinformation” circulating about his bill.
