Tennessee bill lets businesses and people refuse to recognize same-sex marriages

More than a decade after the U.S. Supreme Court declared marriage equality the law of the land, Tennessee Republicans are moving to test how durable that promise really is.

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On Thursday, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed House Bill 1473, a measure that asserts private citizens and organizations in the state are not bound by the Fourteenth Amendment or by the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges when it comes to recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples. The bill also shields people from professional discipline if they refuse to officiate or celebrate weddings or commitment ceremonies that fall outside Tennessee’s statutory definition of marriage.

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The bill, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Gino Bulso, cleared the House on a 68–24 vote after advancing through committee largely along party lines. Its supporters describe it as a defense of religious liberty and freedom of conscience. Its critics see a state legislature asserting, in effect, that constitutional law is optional in private life and that the legal status of same-sex marriages can be quietly downgraded without formally overturning Obergefell.

For LGBTQ+ advocates, the symbolism of the vote was as alarming as the substance of the bill. In a statement after its passage, the Tennessee Equality Project condemned the measure in stark terms.

“Attacking the recognition of people's marriages is one of the worst ways for the Tennessee House to spend its time,” the group said. “This bill sows fear about the very protections that give families security, and it fails to address real problems in our state like emergency preparedness and the affordability crisis. Hate won today, but those of us fighting for love and our families will prevail here or in the courts.”

National advocacy groups echoed that criticism. Cathryn Oakley, senior director of legal policy at the Human Rights Campaign, said the bill reflects misplaced priorities and a refusal to accept settled law.

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“While families across Tennessee are focused on everyday needs and caring for the people they love, anti-equality politicians in the state House are spending their precious time attempting to rehash settled law and targeting same-sex couples for political gain,” Oakley said in a statement to The Advocate. “Marriage equality is the law of the land – that includes Tennessee. And an overwhelming majority of Americans support marriage equality and have declared that no one should be given a license to discriminate against loving families. HRC will continue fighting to ensure that every couple in Tennessee and around the country is treated with the dignity, respect, and legal recognition they deserve.”

Tennessee House’s vote is a reminder of a post-Dobbs political reality: rights once thought secure can become conditional again, not all at once, but through careful legal abrasion. Marriage equality may still be the law of the land, but in Tennessee, Republicans are betting that its edges are still soft enough to cut.

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Legally, HB1473 does not attempt to repeal marriage equality outright. Tennessee, like every other state, remains bound by Obergefell to license and recognize marriages between same-sex couples. Instead, the bill works by carving out broad exemptions. It declares that private individuals and organizations need not recognize such marriages, and it bars the state’s Board of Judicial Conduct from disciplining anyone who refuses to officiate or celebrate them.

That distinction, between what the state must do and what private actors may refuse to do, is precisely where the new conflict lies. Supporters frame the bill as a modest protection for clergy and others who object to same-sex marriage on religious grounds. Opponents argue that it invites a two-tier system in which marriages remain legal in theory but become contingent in practice, depending on who is willing to acknowledge them.

The state’s own fiscal analysts suggest the measure will not significantly affect government operations. A fiscal note attached to the bill concludes that its impact on state and local finances would be “not significant,” reasoning that Tennessee already recognizes same-sex marriages under federal law and that exempting people from discipline for declining to officiate ceremonies is unlikely to change the number of marriages performed or the workload of oversight bodies. In other words, the bill is not about budgets or bureaucratic efficiency. It is about signaling and reshaping the moral and legal boundaries of recognition.

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In 2022, Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act, repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and requiring states to recognize marriages validly performed elsewhere, including those of same-sex couples. But that law left unresolved tensions between civil rights protections and claims of religious exemption. Across the country, conservative lawmakers have been probing that fault line, looking for ways to narrow the practical reach of marriage equality without directly challenging Obergefell itself.

The broader context of HB1473’s passage reflects a national pattern: conservative groups and lawmakers are once again putting marriage equality under political siege. Last month, a newly formed coalition of conservative organizations, many of the same actors who opposed marriage rights a decade ago, has mounted a coordinated campaign to overturn Obergefell and reframe the issue around claims that recognizing same-sex marriages harms children and undermines traditional family structures, arguments that advocates say the Supreme Court already rejected.

A comprehensive review of the scholarly literature conducted by Cornell University concluded there were no differences in children’s well-being when they are raised by same-sex couples compared to heterosexual couples.

The bill, if passed through the Tennessee state senate and signed by Bill Lee, the state’s Republican governor, would take effect July 1 and would apply to actions occurring on or after that date.