Tennessee lawmaker backing marriage amendment getting divorce

State Sen. Jeff Miller, a Republican from Cleveland, is accused in a Feb. 25 divorce complaint of “inappropriate marital conduct.” The senator’s March 2 answer to the complaint “vehemently denies” any such conduct.

“He is very hypocritical, fighting for the sanctity of marriage and not keeping his own,” the senator’s wife of 15 years, Brigitte Suzanne Miller, said in a report in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Jeff Miller, chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus, acknowledged the divorce in a statement Thursday.

“Divorce is a very difficult time for everyone,” he said. “It is a very private matter which is played out in public proceedings. My chief concern right now is the best interest of our children.”

The senator’s wife said Wednesday her 42-year-old husband was involved with a woman in Nashville. She said family members saw him with the woman at a Martina McBride concert.

“He told them that she was just a friend,” Ms. Miller said. “That really bothered me.”

The state Senate approved Miller’s marriage protection amendment Feb. 22. In addition to defining marriage as “the historical institutional and legal contract solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman,” it would also forbid state recognition of same-sex marriages.

Miller stopped an attempt to include a constitutional ban on adultery in the amendment.