(The Center Square) – A private individual or organization who doesn’t want to perform a same-sex marriage in Tennessee would not face sanctions under a bill passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday.
House Bill 1473, sponsored by Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, would protect individuals and private entities who are not going to be “compelled to do something to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs,” the lawmaker told The Center Square in an interview shortly after introducing the bill.
Tennesseans passed a constitutional amendment in 2006 that defined marriage between a man and a woman. The 2015 decision Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage was a federal overreach, Bulso said.
“Those five judges had no ability legislative to do anything but they used an interpretation of the 14th Amendment to accomplish what they couldn’t accomplish legislatively,” he said.
The 14th Amendment ratified in 1868 after the Civil War says, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Democrats slammed the bill.
“So any attempt to say that we are not bound by the 14th Amendment is a slap in the face to the very spirit of the 14th Amendment,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Ray Clemmons.
Bulso is using the bill to bypass his way to the Supreme Court, Rep. Sam McKenzie, D-Knoxville said.
“That bothers me tremendously,” McKenzie said.
The bill passed 68-24 along party lines.
A Senate version of the bill is still under consideration. It is sponsored by Hohenwald Republican Sen. Joey Hensley.
Bulso is also sponsoring a bill that would allow prayer and Bible studies in state schools and public charter schools. Bulso also used the 14th amendment to back that bill.
“The Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution restricts only laws enacted by Congress, and the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution offers no support for requiring states to comply with the restrictions that the Establishment Clause imposes on Congress,” according to House Bill 1491, which is named the Protecting Religious Liberty and Expression in Public Schools Act. “This Legislature enjoys the power to extend protection to religious liberty and freedom of expression and to provide redress against deprivations of these liberties.”
House Bill 1491 is in the House Judiciary Committee. It is also cosponsored by Hensley.
