Looks Like Arizona’s Bill Had an Impact on Tennessee Couples, Too

When Jan Brewer vetoed a bill that would allow businesses to deny service to same-sex couples based on the business owner/operator’s beliefs, a lot of people breathed a collective sigh a relief – though not for collective reasons. Now it appears that Tennessee lawmakers have jumped on that bandwagon, postponing the debate over Senate Bill 2566. The bill would have allowed persons and religious or denominational organizations, based on sincere religious belief, to refuse to provide services or goods in furtherance of a civil union, domestic partnership, or marriage not recognized by the Tennessee Constitution.

Whether you support the bill for protecting businesses and religious freedom, or think it denies civil rights, isn’t any of our concern. But as divorce lawyers, we can’t help but react to any legislation that affects marriage in Tennessee, regardless of how we feel about it.

Where Tennessee stands on the same-sex couple debate

Last year, Governor Bill Haslam signed the “Traditional Marriage Day” resolution in law, with unanimous support of both our House and our Senate. In fact, at this time last year 62% of people polled by the Middle Tennessee State University were in favor of a ban on same-sex marriage. Two months later, Vanderbilt University did a poll of its own and found that the numbers were a little different; in fact, the numbers were pretty evenly split. And if Vanderbilt’s numbers are correct, about 2/3 of the Tennessee population under the age of 30 think same-sex couples should be legally recognized.

So why does any of this matter? Just ask our neighbors to the north, who were told that a same-sex couple who gets married in, say, Oregon has to be afforded the same treatment and benefits as any other married couple. There are four lawsuits filed against our own governor for that very reason.

We’re not saying that gays or lesbians should or should not be allowed to marry or have civil unions. What we’re saying is that if they are, they’re going to be allowed to divorce, and it could change the whole way we practice family law here in Tennessee. Guess we’ll have to wait it out and see.