Comments Below: 12
On May 14th California's Supreme Court overturned a state law banning same-sex marriage.
Could that ruling have an affect here in the Tennessee Valley?
In a 4 to 3 split decision the California Supreme Court ruled the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional...
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom says, "And by the way as California goes so goes the rest of the nation."
Minister Jeff Briere of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Chattanooga says, "If the state is gonna be in the marriage business, they need to be in the marriage business for all the citizens."
Briere thinks gender or sexual orientation shouldn't shouldn't have anything to do with whether a couple can marry, "People that are upset by this will often say it threatens marriage. Well, it doesn't threaten my marriage."
Briere says same-sex marriage is a matter of justice, not faith.
He says most faith teachings about homosexuality and marriage are thousands of years old and no longer apply to the world today.
But not everyone agrees...
In a written statement Family Action Council of Tennessee President, David Fowler says "Marriage is not something we made up and can therefore redefine."
Fowler says marriage is between a man and a woman, and the Tennessee Constitution reads the same way.
Chattanooga Attorney J.B. Bennett says, "In TN we have an amendment already in our constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman only."
The California Constitution does not contain this definition, and that's why the Supreme Court overturned the ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional.
Bennett says the California ruling has no impact on Tennessee Law.
The state does not recognize Civil Unions between gay couples, and due to the defense of marriage act, does not have to recognize a same-sex marriage from any other state.
Still, Briere says, that doesn't make it fair, "It's a good thing for people to be married. It contributes to the economy and the growth of the country."
A California coalition is collecting signatures to amend the state's Constitution to restrict marriage to a man and a woman only.
So far that coalition has more than a million signatures.
[2]