Nashville council asks state to oppose anti-gay marriage bills

Nashville’s Metro Council is now on record requesting the city’s delegation in the Tennessee legislature to oppose state bills that are anti-gay marriage.

In a unanimous vote, the 40-member council late Tuesday approved a resolution asking the Davidson County state delegation to comply with last year’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage and to oppose any state legislation that is not compliant with it.

The resolution’s lead sponsors were council members Nancy VanReece of Madison and Brett Withers of East Nashville, the only two openly gay members on the council. The legislation had several co-sponsors.

“This is letting folks know on the Hill that we request that they simply confer with the Supreme Court ruling on this matter,” VanReece said.

Before the vote, Withers gave particularly personal remarks, asking his colleagues “that I be treated the same as you and that you reaffirm my right to marriage equality.”

He referenced a past relationship in which he said he was the primary caregiver.

“I did so in the absence of most of the legal protections that most of you in this body take for granted through your simple ability to obtain a marriage license,” he said.

“In terms of religious beliefs, my own family belonged to the Church of Christ, and many of my partner’s family at that time were Catholic. Neither religion approves same-sex relationships, much less marriages. Nevertheless, both of our families recognize that one does not spend countless days and nights in hospitals for years, or serve as a home caregiver, unless you love that person.

“Both of our religious families recognized our love and commitment to one another and recognized that that had no effect on their own marriages.”

For Nashville the resolution's unanimous approval illustrates the council's drastic change in views regarding gay, lesbian and transgender issues over the past decade-plus. In 2003 the council narrowly defeated a nondiscrimination bill that sought to protect LGBT Metro employees before approving similar legislation a few years later.

The Metro Council’s vote comes after some county commissions in more conservative rural counties of Tennessee have approved resolutions opposing same-sex marriage.

State legislation known as the Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act that would have directed Tennessee to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court's same-sex ruling quickly died in the legislature last month.

Nevertheless, gay rights advocates are still flagging a handful of bills they view as hostile to the recent court ruling.

A bill sponsored by state Sen. Mae Beavers and state Rep. Mark Pody — who also were the sponsors of the Natural Marriage Defense Act — would purportedly require legislative approval of U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

Separate legislation aimed at transgender people would require students use restrooms or changing rooms that correspond with their birth certificates.

Another bill sponsored by Beavers would seek to define the terms husband, wife, male and female as used in all governmental offices.

A fourth bill, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, says that clergy, pastors, ministers or other religious-affiliated individuals would not be required to solemnize any marriage that would “violate a sincerely held religious belief.”

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8263 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.