Tennessee House passes legislation supporting right to oppose same-sex marriage

The Tennessee House of Representatives has approved legislation that would allow private individuals and institutions to decline to recognize same-sex marriages.

House Bill 1473 passed 68-24 on Feb. 19 with every Republican in favor and every Democrat against.

Banks, medical providers and other private entities under the measure would not have to recognize what it describes as “a purported marriage between individuals of the same sex.”

It also says the state cannot punish government officials for “declining to celebrate or officiate at a marriage or commitment ceremony that falls outside the definition of marriage provided in this code.”

The legislation directly challenges the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which required all states to recognize same-sex marriage.

“Private citizens and organizations are not bound by the Fourteenth Amendment or by the Supreme Court’s purported interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment in Obergefell v. Hodges,” the bill says.

Republican state Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, who sponsored the measure, argued on the House floor that the high court exceeded its authority.

“It was the U.S. Supreme Court on June the 26th of 2015 that overstepped its bounds and invented this ‘right’ to marriage of individuals of the same sex, despite there being no support whatsoever in the language of the 14th Amendment for that proposition,” Bulso said.

Rep. Monty Fritts, R-Kingston, framed the issue in spiritual terms.

“The court decided to redefine something that Almighty God had not given that court the authority to redefine,” Fritts said.

Bulso pointed to Tennessee’s 2006 Marriage Protection Amendment, which voters approved with 81% support.

“The overwhelming majority of Tennesseans already affirmed what we have known for all of history: marriage is between one man and one woman,” Bulso said.

“This legislation protects religious liberty in the Volunteer State by clarifying that private citizens can never be forced to recognize any other definition,” he added. “I’m grateful to my Republican colleagues for standing with me to defend the common-sense values that have shaped our state and nation.”

The proposal now moves to the Republican-controlled state Senate, where it awaits consideration in the Judiciary Committee.

Tennessee lawmakers have taken several steps in recent years to support traditional views on gender, including banning certain transgender procedures for minors and restricting males from competing in women’s sports. 

If enacted, House Bill 1473 would mark one of the most direct state-level challenges to the Obergefell decision since the court ruled on it over a decade ago.