Potential Supreme Court Review Could Reinstate Tennessee’s Ban On Same-Sex Marriage

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The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

If the Supreme Court opts to take on the review of the 2015 decision to allow same-sex marriages across the country, Tennessee could ultimately see its ban on same-sex marriages reinstated.

Voters within the state approved a ban on same-sex marriages in 2006.

When the 2015 case of Obergefell vs. Hodges allowed for them, the constitutional ban became unenforceable, but it is still a part of the Tennessee Constitution.

Just one day after the 2015 ruling, Kim Davis, county clerk in Rowan County, North Carolina, refused to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple on the basis of her religious beliefs. She ultimately spent five days in jail and was ordered in 2023 to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars towards legal fees and damages to the couple.

Davis is now asking the Supreme Court to look at the case and absolve her of those fines.

Additionally, she is asking them to overturn Obergefell vs. Hodges completely.

If the case were to be overturned, Tennessee’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriages would once again be enforceable.

However, the state would still be forced to recognize those marriages that are done in other states, because of a 2022 law signed by then-President Joe Biden.

The Supreme Court has not yet announced if it will take on the case, but some state legislators look forward to the chance that they do with Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood-D61) noting, “Obergefell was an egregiously wrong decision.”