Tennessee’s new law banning online-ordained ministers is rooted in religious bigotry that aims to exclude LGBT people and people of differing faiths from marriage.
The law, SB1377/HB0213, which “prohibits persons receiving online ordinations from solemnizing the rite of matrimony,” is an assault on religious freedom and the agency of citizens to decide who officiates their wedding.
In an open letter to the Tennessee legislature, the American Marriage Ministries has condemned the new law as discriminatory. The law is an affront to religious freedom of people whose religious beliefs do not fall in line with the orthodox beliefs of the Church. It is a law created specifically to target LGBT people, non-religious couples and people of minority faiths as it severely limits their options for marriage ceremonies.
While heterosexual Christians will always be able to find someone to officiate their weddings, not everyone is so lucky. Tennessee legislators will do anything they can to ensure religious and sexual minorities do not have access to the same services as they do.
Conservatives are more than willing to use the State as a tool to mediate and delegitimize human relationships, but they balk at the idea of it being used for any social good that improves the lives of many. There are no real moral or practical grounds on which this law is built. It is not about the “sanctity” of marriage; it is simply a cruel attempt to ensure the supremacy of heterosexuality and Christianity by creating more hoops for people to jump through in order to get married.
The State should not be involved in deciding which relationships are legitimate through the heteropatriarchal institution of marriage. We need to make room for a plurality of relationships consisting of people of different sexualities and religious, not just relations that strengthen marriage as an institution, but partnerships that work outside these frameworks as well.
Offering online-ordinations allows a greater number of people to have weddings officiated by people who reflect their values and beliefs. Tennessee must repeal this law to protect religious freedom and civil liberty.
