Tennessee Legislators Introduce Marriage Bill

USPA NEWS - A bill has been introduced in the TN State Legislator which, if passed, would dictate that the State must ignore all Federal Laws and Court Rulings with any regard to Marriage as anything other than between "one man and one woman". If passed, this law would cost the state billions.

It seems that every time Tennessee takes a step forward in improving both the image of our state as well as improving the way of life for its citizens and businesses, our legislators in the Tennessee General Assembly, introduce frivolous legislation that causes the States Image to take four steps backwards.

Representative Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) and State Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) have introduced a Bill in the Legislature (HB 1412/ SB 1437) commonly named as the “Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act“. These bills were introduced in September in response to the State of Tennessee losing its appeal in the Obergefell v Hodges case before the Supreme Court of the United States. This ruling deemed that Laws on the books in Tennessee,

and other states, which specifically banned the legal recognition of marriage from same sex couples as unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment of the United States of America. Their ruling basically followed the same ruling in Loving v. Virginia in the early 1970´s which made Interracial Marriage legal in all fifty states.

There have been arguments in numerous states, mainly in the South, as to the validity of the Supreme Court´s Ruling. Opponents, including these Tennessee Legislators have claimed that the Supreme Court cannot mandate Laws to the states, it is the States duty and the electorates duty to make these laws, not the courts.

What they seem to fail to realize is that the Supreme Courts duty to is to interpret the Constitution in relation to cases brought before it, such as in Obergefell v Hodges. This they did, they found that the rights of same-sex couples are no different than those of opposite sex couples when it comesMarriage and Marriage Recognition by the states, and there can be no law which discriminates against these individuals, specifically the current

specifically the current Tennessee Constitutional Amendment which prevented same sex couples from marrying in this state. Every citizen of Tennessee and the United States is to be treated equally under the law, and the laws of the country always trump those of the States, according to the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.

So with this, our legislators seem hell bent to now process a bill calling for the State of Tennessee to ignore all Federal Laws and Court Rulings with regards to anything dealing with Marriage other than that of between one man and one woman.

If passed, this bill will immediately violate Federal Law, and will get approximately $8 Billion dollars in Federal Monies that the State receives for Medicaid and the Food Stamp program suspended. This amount does not include the legal fees and court costs that the state will incur the minute it is passed from the 100´s of lawsuits which will be filed against the Counties and State for the Marriages that will instantly become void if passed (Including the suit that this Author will file). This clearly unconstitutional bill could in fact practically bankrupt the state which is already on shaky fiscal ground from the decreased revenues to the state coffers. Do we really want this to happen?

It seems that these type of Legislators, Pody and Beavers and many more, seem to forget one very important thing in their efforts to govern. They seem to forget that though they may be a member of a political party, once in office they represent all Tennesseans, not just those of their party. They also seem to forget that their personal religious beliefs have no business in our State House or our laws. We have a wall dividing Church and State in this country, which they continually seem to ignore.

In fact, Representative Pody is now on record as stating that this bill was written after he was personally told “by God“ to do so. I am not sure if this “message from God“ needed to be transcribed into a possible law for Tennessee. These Representatives need to learn to leave their religion and their bigotry in their car when they arrive to work in the State Capitol Building. They need to think, before they drag our state kicking and screaming back into the 1960´s and even more importantly, drag us into financial ruin.