The State of Tennessee has a new and powerful weapon in its arsenal to defend against attempts to import same-sex "marriages" from California into the Volunteer State.
Homosexual activists are often able to win court battles because their opponents are poorly funded or lack adequate legal representation for other reasons. But that will not happen if a homosexual couple from Tennessee, who recently obtained a "marriage" license in California, makes good on their threat to sue their home state for failing to recognize their union. Jim Campbell is litigation counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). "We feel very strongly that each individual state's policy on marriage should not be undermined by a decision from another state," says Campbell. "So we have chosen to offer our assistance free of charge -- and we'll continue to do so to the extent these lawsuits keep popping up around the country." Like the majority of U.S. states, Tennessee's law already addresses what does and does not constitute a real marriage. "The people of Tennessee have already spoken," says the attorney, "and in their marriage amendment they have recognized that marriage is the union of one man and one woman." Campbell then adds: "And they have recognized that that type of union is the best way to protect family and, specifically, to protect children." Eighty-one percent of Tennessee voters approved a marriage protection amendment in 2006 defining marriage as such and ordering state government not to recognize same-sex civil unions, domestic partnerships, or so-called "marriages." That amendment clearly states that any "policy, law, or judicial interpretation" that defines marriage as anything other than the historical institution involving one man and one woman "is contrary to the public policy of this state and shall be void and unenforceable in Tennessee." As reported earlier, homosexual activist groups have urged their members not to file lawsuits trying to force California same-sex marriages on other states because public opposition to the idea is so great. Campbell says he is not surprised that some extremists are not following instructions. "It's hard to tell an entire community out there what to do. So, I don't think that we are entirely surprised that this is happening," he shares. "This is something that we have seen a long time ago that this is a strategy that they planned to use to take 'marriages' from one state and to expand them to the rest of the country." Wherever that is tried, Campbell says, ADF will be there to defend natural marriage.
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