Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed a bill Wednesday allowing public officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages. State lawmakers approved Tennessee House Bill 878 last week. The legislation s…

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee ® signed a bill Wednesday allowing public officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages.

State lawmakers approved Tennessee House Bill 878 last week. The legislation states people “shall not be required to solemnize a marriage” if they refuse to doing so based on their “conscience or religious beliefs.” According to the Tennessee Legislature website, the governor signed the bill Wednesday.

  • Flying Squid
    214•7 months ago

    Sounds like a good reason for queer people to start getting jobs as county clerks in Tennessee so they can refuse to solemnize cishet marriages based on their conscience or religious beliefs.

      • Flying Squid
        51•7 months ago

        They’d have to do it very stealthily though. Pretend to be die-hard cishet Republicans until after the election. Santos them, but go even further than Santos did by pretending you aren’t even queer.

      • Flying Squid
        10•7 months ago

        Ministers and churches are not public officials.

        Ministers and churches already had that right.

        You are simply incorrect.

        • @[email protected]English
          9•7 months ago

          Yes I was, sorry. This is even more useless than I thought. The Kim Davis case has already established that public officials have an obligation to perform their duties without regard for the sexuality of the people they serve. The law has already been preempted by federal law and precedent in the 6th Circuit which is the appeals court with jurisdiction over Tennessee.

      • CrazyEddie041
        28•7 months ago

        “LGBT” doesn’t have to be a conscience or religion belief. You can just state that heterosexual marriage against your beliefs.

          • Flying Squid
            11•7 months ago

            Yep. Jesus had a lot to say about condemning divorce. He didn’t really say anything about anything LGBT-related.

          • Froyn
            4•7 months ago

            heterosexual ‘relationships’ cause more abortions

      • Flying Squid
        26•7 months ago

        “Mr. Woke Bond” is the best insult you can come up with?

        That’s pretty pathetic.

          • lad
            2•7 months ago

            As per Poe’s law, that might have been a joke. Well, it might’ve been not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

      • SeaJ
        11•7 months ago

        Being against heterosexual marriage can certainly be a personal belief. It does not have to be a religious or conscience stance.

        If you want a religious stance: refuse to marry people who have been divorced.

        • Froyn
          6•7 months ago

          “Have you consummated your relationship?” Yes? I’m sorry, I can’t approve of your marriage.