FACEBOOK FEEDBACKLots of readers commented on coverage of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision. Here is a small sample:Nick Serpas: "Now that we have offsetting rulings by appeals courts, SCOTUS will hopefully grow a backbone and take up this case and end the debate once and for all. It's going to happen in Tennessee, it's no longer if but when."Marilyn Bell: "The needs of the many ... outweigh the needs of the few. It should be up to state residents to decide."Chris Lawson: "... What has been done here is honoring the fact that the majority of the electorate does not wish to allow same sex marriage benefits to those whom cannot procreate. Nobody has taken away your right to chose your sexual preference, only where you can get married or be married as a homosexual."Pat Hagan: "No equality on Tennessee! What a backward state."
The state's wrongheaded bias will cost us - in dollars, time and hearts.
Especially after the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Thursday closed the door on gay marriage in Tennessee by upholding an eight-year-old Tennessee constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman, and which does not recognize same-sex marriages from other states.
The ruling will be a wasteful delay as we wait for what comes next.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 turned away appeals from states seeking to prohibit gay and lesbian marriages, choosing not to decide on same-sex marriage cases. But this 6th Circuit appellate ruling by three justices in a 2-1 division puts a new light on that stance: The 6th Circuit's ruling veers away from more than 20 other appellate court decisions that favor supporters of same-sex marriage since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act last year. A federal judge in Louisiana recently upheld that state's ban, but four other U.S. appeals courts ruled against state bans.
That means the Supreme Court almost certainly will ultimately decide whether bans can stand in Tennessee as well as in Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. And if you like odds, the Supreme Court has overturned 24 of 25 cases it heard on appeal from the 6th Circuit between 2008 and 2012, according to Scotusblog, which covers the high court.
On the other hand, the Supreme Court could just leave the ruling as is -- in effect, making the right to same-sex marriage a states' rights question. We've seen that messiness before, and we've seen the Supreme Court's response.
The case here came to being after a lesbian couple married in New York and, after moving to Tennessee, challenged the state's ban. They had a child and were seeking recognition of their marriage and parental rights in the Volunteer State. A judge ruled for the couple, but the case was appealed. Two other Tennessee couples who married in other states joined their case.
Tennessee lawmakers enacted a ban on same-sex marriage in 1996, and voters supported a constitutional ban in 2006.
There are 11,000 cohabiting same-sex couples in Tennessee, and an estimated 18 percent of them are raising nearly 4,000 children in their homes, according to the Williams Institute, a think tank that studies gender identity law and public policy at UCLA.
On Thursday, after the 6th Circuit ruling, a Nashville couple, wanting to wed for 15 years, told The Tennessean that the latest setback is a cloud with a silver lining: It increases the chances that the highest court finally will decide the issue once and for all.
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, the powerful Tennessee Senate speaker, praised the 6th Circuit's decision and wrote on Facebook: "Courts will continue to grapple with this issue in the months and years ahead and those of us who believe in traditional marriage must continue to fight for our values."
U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, tweeted: "Bad news: Unfortunate ruling. Good news: One step closer to the Supreme Court."
Yes, courts will continue to grapple with it -- on our dime -- until the Supreme Court finally rules, again, that gay and lesbian couples have an equal right to marriage.
When will penny-wise, pound-foolish, Bible-thumping Tennessee lawmakers finally choose to stay out of the state citizens' adult and consenting private lives?