Tennessee just passed a new law meant to undermine LGBTQ rights
Source: Associated Press
By JONATHAN MATTISE, Associated Press · Friday, April 28, 2017
Words in state law must be interpreted as having “natural and ordinary meaning” under a bill passed by the Tennessee Senate on Thursday. Critics call it a sneaky way of encouraging state judges to deny rights to same-sex couples and transgender people.
LGBT groups lamented the 23-6 vote and immediately began prodding Republican Gov. Bill Haslam for a veto, but his spokeswoman Jennifer Donnals said he is “deferred to the will of the legislature.” The House approved the same legislation last month.
Sarah Kate Ellis, president of the national LGBT rights group GLAAD, said the bill would be bad for business and “set a dangerous precedent that could place the well-being of LGBTQ Tennesseans in jeopardy.” The legislation has been pushed by the Family Action Council of Tennessee, which advocates for one-man, one-woman marriage.
A different bill that gained no traction explicitly cited “husband,” “wife,” “mother,” and “father” as having natural and ordinary meanings based on the biological distinctions between men and women. The measure that passed avoids those specifics, and merely states that any word undefined in state law must be used according to its “natural and ordinary meaning.”
Read more: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/04/tennessee-just-passed-new-law-meant-undermine-lgbtq-rights/
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