The Supreme Court has agreed to hear cases where gay marriage bans have come under fire. This April, the Court will listen to arguments from Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky lawmakers in one setting, and will make a final ruling as to the Constitutionality of the ban this June according to USA Today.
Tennessee banned same-sex marriage in 1996, and added a constitutional amendment prohibiting it 10 years later. The ban was challenged by three couples who had legally married in another state, and then moved to Tennessee. The couples believed that “the state’s failure to recognize their marriage created an unconstitutional burden” on them, because Tennessee doesn’t recognize their status as married couples. The state attorney general claimed this was not the case.
But there are benefits that legally-recognized marriages enjoy which these same-sex couples do not, including:
- The right to get divorced
- The right to collect death benefits
- The right to visit their partners in the hospital (when such visits are designated for next-of-kin only)
- The right to share an insurance policy
- The right not to testify against their partner in court
- The right to file joint taxes
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban, but other appeals courts struck the ban down in Idaho, Indiana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. The Supreme Court will now consider “whether the 14th Amendment to the Constitution requires states to license marriages between same-sex couples, and whether it requires states to recognize such marriages when licensed by other states. The Michigan case involves the first question, the Ohio and Tennessee cases involve the second, and the Kentucky case includes both.”
We’ll be following these cases closely, so please check back for updates. If you have questions about Tennessee’s laws regarding marriage or divorce, please reach out to us. We’d be happy to sit down and talk with you.
