Controversial bill amended to have age requirement

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Proposed legislation aims to provide an alternative way to marry in the state of Tennessee.

The bill proposed by Rep. Tom Leatherwood in the Tennessee House and Sen. Janice Bowling in the Senate, aims to create “a common law marriage in the state between one man and one woman.”

The bill’s creators say that this legislation would not affect marriages in the state, and only adds another way to be married. 

“If you pass this bill, a man could marry a man based on our current laws and receive a certificate that reflects that. All this does is establish another pathway to marriage in Tennessee law that addresses the concerns of many pastors and their parishioners, their consciences’ objections based on their deeply held religious convictions that marriage is between a man and woman, and this would create a marriage certificate reflecting that,” Leatherwood said.

Some say the bill has unintended consequences. 

Critics previously have pointed out that the legislation had no age requirement to get the alternative marriage certificate.

“It’s ugly enough Republicans are advancing an unconstitutional bill to undermine marriage equality, but the fact that this bill reopens the debate on child marriage is outrageous,” Sen. Raumesh Akbari said in a news release. “Kids need time to grow and mature. Kids need to be kids — not brides and mothers.”

The bill was amended on April 6 to end that loophole.

“It’s my position that this bill never would have allowed minors to be able to get married because of contracts and so forth, but I can see and understand how that might have been misunderstood. So with this amendment, it explicitly states that both parties have to attain the age of majority, which is defined in Tennessee code as 18 or older,” Leatherwood said during the Civil Justice Committee meeting on Wednesday.

Rep. Johnny Garrett raises additional concerns about the bill. 

He says that those who enter marriage under this potential legislation could face issues with wills, divorce, retirement benefits, and could be married to more than one person at a time.

“And the most troublesome aspect of the legislation is that I got a 15-year-old. A 15-year-old girl. What if there is some man out there that wants to take my daughter and hold her out as his wife when there is nothing in this state to hold accountability to what that relationship is because that relationship is not recognized under current law,” Garrett said.

“I think most of your concerns, or a large part of them, could be boiled down to this not being recognized by the state,” Leatherwood said. “If we pass this legislation, it won’t be common law, it won’t be anything else. It will be statutory law in the state of Tennessee, and I think the state will recognize this.”

You can stay up-to-date on this legislation here.

You can find more news from across the state here.