Tennessee House Passes Bill Challenging Homosexual 'Marriage'

Raymond Wolfe : Feb 20, 2026
LifeSiteNews.com

"It was the US Supreme Court on June the 26th of 2015 that overstepped its bounds and invented this 'right' to marriage of individuals of the same sex, despite there being no support whatsoever in the language of the 14th Amendment for that proposition." -Republican state Rep. Gino Bulso

(Nashville, TN) — [LifeSiteNews.com] The Tennessee House of Representatives passed legislation on Thursday that would allow private citizens and organizations to refuse to recognize homosexual "marriages," in a major challenge to the LGBT movement. (Image: iStock-sandoclr)

House Bill 1473, which cleared the state House 68-24 with overwhelming support from Republicans, would exempt banks, medical institutions, and other private entities from recognizing what the bill refers to as "a purported marriage between individuals of the same sex."

The bill additionally states that government officials may not face discipline or sanctions for "declining to celebrate or officiate at a marriage or commitment ceremony that falls outside the definition of marriage provided in this code."

The legislation pushes back against Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court decision that legalized homosexual "marriage" nationwide.

"Private citizens and organizations are not bound by the Fourteenth Amendment or by the Supreme Court's purported interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment in Obergefell v. Hodges," House Bill 1473 says.

All Republicans in the Tennessee House voted for the measure, while all Democrats voted against it.

"It was the US Supreme Court on June the 26th of 2015 that overstepped its bounds and invented this 'right' to marriage of individuals of the same sex, despite there being no support whatsoever in the language of the 14th Amendment for that proposition," said Republican state Rep. Gino Bulso, who introduced the bill, according to local news.

"The court decided to redefine something that Almighty God had not given that court the authority to redefine," Republican Rep. Monty Fritts also said.

The bill now has to pass the Republican-controlled state Senate, where it is being considered in the Judiciary Committee.

"The overwhelming majority of Tennesseans already affirmed what we have known for all of history: marriage is between one man and one woman," Bulso said in a press release, referring to... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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