The Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill on Monday night allowing county clerks to refuse to marry same-sex and interracial couples if they disagree with the union, according to The New Republic.
The bill says “a person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage if the person has an objection to solemnizing the marriage based on the person’s conscience or religious beliefs.”
The bill now heads to the Senate.
Rep. Monty Fritts, the Republican who sponsored the legislation told the the Children and Family Affairs Subcommittee that a “big reason” he brought the bill was to help block elder abuse,according to the Memphis Flyer.
“When you look at some of the research that we have found on this, that … young folks are trying to marry older folks to get to their financial accounts,” Fritts said. “I think there are other things that we need to do.”
But, Democrat Rep. Jason Power pushed back, calling the bill a “solution looking for a problem” and “government overreach.”
The new Tennessee bill takes advantage of a loophole in the Respect for Marriage Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden last year, that requires states to recognize same-sex marriages across state lines, even if they do not issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples in their state.
If the Tennessee bill becomes law, it will be challenged and likely make its way up to the Supreme Court where Justice Clarence Thomas in his concurring opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, listed the 2015 ruling Obergefell v. Hodges, which affirmed the right to same-sex marriage, as another precedent that could be on the chopping block.
