Bill opposing same-sex civil unions killed
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The Domestic Relations Subcommittee voted 5-4 against the measure after about 15 minutes of debate before a room filled beyond capacity with supporters and detractors.
“It’s a vote for equality,” said Maria Salas of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest organization advocating for gay rights. “We had a lot of folks here from across the state — gay and lesbian people, our straight allies — who are all very pleased that this committee saw it fit to not discriminate against gay and lesbians … in domestic partnerships or civil unions.”
Tennessee already doesn’t allow same-sex civil unions and has a state law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
But bill sponsor Rep. Chris Clem, R-Lookout Mountain, argued the state needs to close a “loophole” in the law to prevent recognition in Tennessee of same-sex civil unions sanctioned in other states.
Clem has said the state’s courts need direction on what to do when a same-sex couple joined in a civil union in another state seek benefits commonly accorded married couples, such as survival benefits when a spouse dies.
“They can do what they want from the privacy of their bedrooms,” Clem said. “Now they’re demanding to have the endorsement of society upon their unions.”
After the vote was read, opponents of the bill reacted with cheers and applause despite a warning from subcommittee chairwoman Sherry Jones, D-Nashville, that such action wouldn’t be tolerated.
Outside the room, several got into arguments with supporters of Clem’s bill as state troopers tried to disperse the crowd.
Brady Pearson of Nashville, a gay man who opposed the bill, said he objects to “people being treated like second-class citizens again and again. … Why is it that people like (Clem) can decide if we have rights or if we don’t?”
Kevin Jewell, who traveled from his home in Murfreesboro to support Clem’s effort, answered Pearson by saying, “because you willingly live in sin every day, and now you want to do it in the public eye. That’s not right.”
Wednesday was the second time the subcommittee took up the bill. Last week, it was deferred after spirited debate without a vote by Jones, who then gaveled the meeting to a close.
Clem said he had the votes then to move the bill on but was waylaid by Democratic leadership, which controls the House.
On Wednesday, two Democrats who normally do not sit on the committee appeared to cast their vote — Speaker Pro Tem Lois DeBerry, who can vote on all committees because of her leadership position, and Rep. Janice Sontany, who serves on the full committee but not the subcommittee.
Rep. Nathan Vaughn, a Democrat who backed Clem’s bill, left the committee room before the vote was taken.
“They stacked the committee. They put some extra votes in there today so they’d have the votes to kill it,” Clem said. “That’s just what happens when you’re in the minority party.”
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Read HB2627 at Tennessee General Assembly: http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/