Can I Get An Amen: Anti-Marriage Equality Campaign Backfires Miserably In Tennessee

Well well well … how quickly things change.

On Monday I posted about a couple of bills proposed in both South Carolina and Tennessee that sought to nullify all same-sex marriages in the state and overturn the Supreme Court ruling of last summer ... see post HERE.

Now, I did say the bills had an uphill, almost impossible, fight, but I wasn’t aware of how quickly, in Tennessee at least, people would stand up against these new Hate Bills.

And it’s all about the money, because that bill in Tennessee, the one proposed by Representative, and Republican, of course, Mark Pody, who calls himself a “fiscal conservative,” is headed for failure when people learned that it would cost the state almost $9 billion in federal funds annually if it passes.  

So, rather than approve Pody’s Hate Bill, the Rutherford County Commission amended it so that now it actually calls on the General Assembly to uphold the U.S. Constitution, which of course includes the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. 

Oh, Karma, you’re a bitch, but sometimes you’re just so beautiful, too.

Now, while it just a county resolution, it is a welcome response to the four or so counties in Tennessee that have tried to pass bills to outlaw same-sex marriage.

And to make it even better, all this push by these so-called fair and family groups, like the Family Action Council of Tennessee, has once again stirred up the hornet’s nest that is the LGBT community and our allies in that state.

"The media response to the Tennessee 'Natural Marriage Defense Act' is just where we want it — overwhelmed by the cost of the legislation! It helps when we achieve victories like Rutherford County. The more we slow down, amend, or contain those anti-marriage equality resolutions, the less drive state legislators have to pass the ... Natural Marriage Defense Act. Despite how horrible the bill is, we're all firing on all cylinders." — Chris Sanders, Executive Director of Tennessee Equality Project

And better still, at that meeting in Rutherford County, nearly 100 people who support marriage equality showed up, with six of them speaking against the proposed anti-gay resolution, while no one … no one … one spoke in favor of it, and commissioners were forced to water it down so much that it could actually be interpreted as an endorsement of same-sex marriage.

Boom.

Mic drop.

NCRM