ACLU files lawsuit challenging gay marriage ban amendment

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee announced Thursday that it has filed a lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court over the way lawmakers took up the resolution, which was passed overwhelmingly earlier this year and sent to voters.

The lawsuit charges that the state failed to meet notification requirements as outlined in the state Constitution.

“The drafters of our state constitution put in place very specific safeguards to protect the constitution from being amended at the whim of politicians,” said Hedy Weinberg, the state ACLU’s executive director. “It’s shameful that the politicians who are so eager to prevent gay people from securing the protections of marriage have so little respect for our state constitution that they are willing to ignore these procedural safeguards.”

According to the lawsuit, the text of the amendment was not published six months before the General Assembly election as required. The text was published by the secretary of state on June 20, or four months and 12 days before the Nov. 2 election.

Resolution sponsor Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, said “the procedure was followed and the Secretary of State says it has been.”

“Unfortunately, this group has decided to go against the will of the Senate, where they lost, the will of the House, where they lost, the court of public opinion, where they’ve lost, and now they’re going to shop for some liberal judge who will overturn this,” he said.

Secretary of State Riley Darnell did not immediately return a message left at his office Thursday.

The main objective of the lawsuit is to have a judge prevent the measure from being placed on the ballot in 2006. In order to become part of the constitution, it would have to win a number of votes equal to the majority of ballots cast in the governor’s race.

Three Democratic representatives — Tommie Brown of Chattanooga and Beverly Marrero and Larry Turner, both of Memphis — joined the ACLU in the lawsuit.

“If you amend the constitution, you have to play by all the rules,” Turner said. “And I’m here to make sure that we do that.”

So far, the legal tactics haven’t gotten in the way of anti-gay marriage amendments put in place in 17 states in recent years — although one court in Louisiana temporarily halted a constitutional ban there until the state Supreme Court stepped in earlier this year.

In almost every court challenge to the law, critics have argued that the proposed constitutional amendments violate the “single subject rule,” according to National Gay and Lesbian Task Force legislative lawyer Kara Suffredini.

The exact details in each case vary, but generally the argument says that the proposed constitutional amendments contain more than one subject.

In all, there are currently active challenges in Georgia, Kentucky and Nebraska to constitutional bans on gay marriage, Suffredini said.

Tennessee is one of five states where a proposed ban has passed through the Legislature and is on its way to voters.