Tenn. lawmakers OK bill allowing public officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages

Tennessee lawmakers gave final approval to legislation that would allow public officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages, sending the controversial bill to the governor, who has not said whether he will sign it.

Tennessee’s House Bill 878 states that a person “shall not be required to solemnize a marriage” if they object to doing so based on their “conscience or religious beliefs.” While the bill would prevent officials including county clerks from being required to solemnize a marriage — a right that already exists — it would not give officials the ability to deny marriage licenses to couples based on their own beliefs.

The measure passed the House in March 2023, just days before the state’s General Assembly deferred consideration of the bill until 2024. State senators voted Monday to substitute a companion bill in the Senate with the House version, passing the revived bill in a 27-5, party-line vote.

It now heads to Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who will have 10 days to either approve or veto the bill once it reaches his desk or let the measure become law without his signature.

Lee has not signaled whether he will sign the bill, though the governor made headlines last year for signing nearly a dozen bills targeting LGBTQ rights, including the nation’s first law restricting drag performances. A federal judge in June ruled that law unconstitutional.

LGBTQ and civil rights advocates have argued that House Bill 878 would undermine marriage equality in Tennessee if it is allowed to become law.

“Let’s be clear — this bill is intended to exclude LGBTQ+ folks from equal protection under the law,” said Molly Whitehorn, associate director of regional campaigns for the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ advocacy group. The bill could also deny marriage rights to interracial couples.

Tennessee Republicans have pushed back on claims that the bill is meant to discriminate against same-sex couples or prevent them from marrying.

“It just says that a person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage,” state Sen. Mark Pody (R), the bill’s primary sponsor in the Senate, said Monday on the Senate floor. “This has nothing to do with getting a license. It has nothing to do with the clerk required to give a license. It just says those words, and that’s all there is to it.”

Tennessee Rep. Monty Fritts (R), the bill’s primary sponsor in the House, last year said the legislation is intended to combat elder abuse.

“Young folks are trying to marry older folks to get to their financial accounts,” Fritts said during a February 2023 hearing.

Previous attempts by Tennessee lawmakers to grant individuals with “conscientious objections” to same-sex marriages a way out of performing them have been unsuccessful. A 2022 Tennessee House bill that sought to create a new form of marriage available only to opposite-sex couples was withdrawn after critics said it would undermine same-sex marriages and open the door to possible child marriages because it did not include age limits.