Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signs law that allows people to refuse to 'solemnize' marriage licenses

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN

Published 6:29 PM EST, Wed February 21, 2024


CNN — Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee signed a bill Wednesday that allows people in the state to refuse to “solemnize,” or perform, a marriage if they disagree with it. Last week, Tennessee state lawmakers passed HB 878, which states “a person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage.”

In Tennessee, only certain people can “solemnize” the “rite of matrimony,” including state notary publics, government officials, and religious figures, according to state code.

According to Tennessee Code Title 36, which sets out the state’s rules on marriages and license requirements, “before being joined in marriage, the parties shall present to the minister or officer a license under the hand of a county clerk in this state, directed to such minister or officer, authorizing the solemnization of a marriage between the parties.”

HB 878 has drawn criticism since it was proposed last year. Camilla Taylor, deputy legal director for litigation for Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ legal advocacy group, said that the law is an effort to “roll back recent progress by the LGBTQ community.” “Tennessee House Bill 878 would be patently unconstitutional,” Taylor said in a statement to CNN. “Public officials don’t get to assume public office and then pick and choose which members of the public to serve.”

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/21/us/tennessee-marriage-license-solemnize-reaj/index.html

[J_William_Ryan]

1. And so it begins.

The reprehensible right’s campaign to overturn Obergefell.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. We need a sane person in there to refuse to solemnize anything

"It's all a sham, I tells ya. Don't do this."

[OldBaldy1701E]

6. That was my thought.

Someone who is in that position could just stop doing them at all. It needs to be a major church, though, or it won't get any attention and won't make any difference. But, you get one of the big churches in Nashville or Memphis to start refusing to marry those who have been married multiple times, for example, you just watch how fast this will be removed from the books.

After all, this is about screwing over the other people, not the wealthy, pasty whites that run the state. They should suffer nothing because they are the chosen.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. " wealthy, pasty whites" - Memorable phrasing we should all write it down! /nt

[iluvtennis]

3. It won't end with LGBTQ marriages - they'll also include interracial marriages

[Farmer-Rick]

8. Or mouthy women who don't dress like nuns

Or liberals and Democratic voters.

But there are 8 states that surround Tennessee. There is always somewhere else to get what you need.

[OldBaldy1701E]

10. Oh, we could be looking at arranged marriages only by the time they are done. (n/t)

[sakabatou]

11. Yep, it'll start to slide down the bigoted slope

[maxrandb]

4. It's Tennessee

If you conducted a poll, 60% of TN Voters would think "solemnize" is the same as "sodomize".

I feel sorry for the sane people of Tennessee, but like my old Master Chief used to say; "sympathy comes between shit and syphilis in the dictionary".

[unweird]

5. "Tennessee is kind of hard to call a vacation"

- Fani Willis (under oath)

[Old Crank]

9. Will this include solomizing Christian marriages???

that needs to be part of it.

[jmowreader]

12. IOW the price of getting married in Tennessee just went up by $550

American Airlines round-trip Nashville to Las Vegas is $275 per person.

Article 4, Section 1 of the United States Constitution:
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

So, unless the idiots in Tennessee want to get into a courtroom fight they're guaranteed to lose, which they already seem to be doing, they're pretty much hosed on this one.