State lawmakers announced Friday that they would try to shield religious clergy from being forced to perform same-sex marriages. Now they’re already thinking of expanding their effort to also protect merchants who don’t want to be involved.
State Rep. Andy Holt, who last week proposed the Pastor Protection Act, is considering a state law to give business owners the right to opt out from gay marriage ceremonies — whether they run a bakery, a wedding venue, or a flower shop.
Holt and Rep. Bryan Terry, of Murfreesboro, spent months crafting the pastor protection measure — just in case. Any religious leaders would be protected from presiding over same-sex ceremonies under that proposal.
But Holt said a closer reading of the court’s ruling leaves him to believe that it’s vendors whose convictions could be tested.
“A person should have the rights to their own religious convictions, and if they oppose same-sex marriage, they should have the ability not to involve themselves in that ceremony or not to have their facilities involved in that ceremony,” he said.
The bills could mimic laws in Texas and Oklahoma. And
Holt said there could be enough upset lawmakers to possibly convene in a special session to take up the proposals this summer.
Holt said the move comes from both his personal theology — a belief that marriage should be between one man and one woman — and as a representative of Tennesseans who voted
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overwhelmingly
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to ban same-sex marriage eight years ago.
“When 81.5 percent of the population, the registered voters … said they wanted to ban gay marriage, well in my mind, that’s a much more authoritative voice on behalf of a sovereign state than nine folks in black robes,” Holt said.
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