I report you say Huh?
WBIR:
The state’s attorney general says there is not a law against the civil union of gays and lesbians in Tennessee.
But Paul Summers also says the unions are not legally recognized.
Summers, the state’s highest-ranking lawyer, said he based his opinion on Tennessee’s 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. The act defines marriage as taking place between one man and one woman.
Tennessee’s constitution also does not allow same-sex civil unions.
Opponents of civil unions say they are worried homosexuals will attempt to sue for rights and have a Tennessee court recognize them.
April 23rd, 2004 at 12:04 pm
That analysis sounds about right. Unlike private conduct, legal institutions are not “legal unless they’re illegal,” they’re “illegal” (i.e. not legally recognized as entities) unless they are “legal” (i.e., conform with the statutes that create these institutions). If there were no marriage law at all on the books, the result wouldn’t be that everyone could marry; it would be that no one could, legally speaking.
Forget your position on gay marriage per se, and consider the absurd result if marriage were “legal unless it’s illegal.” That kind of a rule wouldn’t just legalize gay marriage, it would legalize everything under the sun. I’ll bet if you read the TCA from top to bottom, you wouldn’t find a single statute prohibiting you from marrying your gun, your blog, a corporation or just about anything else. That doesn’t mean the State of Tennessee would or should extend legal recognition to such unions. [As an aside, a bill actually is pending in the California legislature which would, as written, allow corporations to marry.]