“Under current law in [Tennessee], a man can marry a man, and the marriage certificate reflects that,” the statement continued. “If this law is passed, a man can still marry a man, and the certificate would still reflect that. But there would also be another form that would say that marriage is between a man and a woman, and the certificate would reflect that. There is no federal legislation on the minimum age of marriage, and minors are legally allowed to marry in 44 states. An estimated 300,000 children were married between 2000 and 2018, Newsweek previously reported. Tennessee has never forced a minister to marry a same-sex couple or a couple against their will or beliefs, said Regina Lambert Hillman, a law professor at the University of Memphis who worked on the legal team for the Tennessee portion of the Obergefell case. Tennessee lawmakers will vote this week on a bill to establish common-law marriages in the state between “one man and one woman.” Some fear that the bill, which does not set an explicit age limit, effectively legalizes all marriages by age, while others fear the bill undermines the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. Supporters of the LGBTQ+ community said the law could also threaten marriage equality in Tennessee, as it only covers unions between “a man and a woman.” The Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states in 2015, although some state constitutions still define marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman. In many states (but not Massachusetts),[2] the marriage of a minor automatically emancipates him or increases his or her legal rights beyond the minor`s permission to consent to certain medical treatments. [3] “This bill should say, have your license, but don`t deny our understanding of marriage or force ministers to choose between signing a document they don`t agree with or a marriage that has no legal effect,” said Fowler, director of the Tennessee Conservative Family Action Council.
this week. A Tennessee General Assembly bill to create a legal marriage pathway reserved for heterosexual couples will not be introduced this year following public outcry over the original version of the legislation. MEMPHIS, Tennessee (WMC) — Some Tennessee Republicans want to legalize marriage under common law. But the bill, which is being considered by the legislature this week, has no age requirements and opponents say it paves the way for allowing child marriage. In California, the applicable law is found in California Family Code Sections 302 and 304 (2019): “An unmarried person under the age of 18 may obtain a marriage certificate upon receipt of a court order authorizing the person or persons to marry in accordance with the requirements described in Section 304.” [11] Historically, Section 56 of the California Civil Code (1872) established 15 as the age at which a woman could marry without her parents` consent. In 1921, the age was raised to 18. [12] The group has campaigned for years for laws against same-sex marriage, including a 2018 attempt to ban child marriage in Tennessee. Fowler argued at the time, under an obscure legal theory, that passing the law could interfere with a lawsuit he brought against Obergefell v. Hodges of the U.S. Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage.
“So your current language has no age limit? You know that our current law has an age limit, and you know what that age limit is? Rep. Torrey Harris of Memphis asked Leatherwood. A spokesperson for Leatherwood told Newsweek last week that the concerns were unnecessary and that the law did not legalize child marriage because it created “prenuptial agreements” that minors could not have signed. However, the bill received negative attention when local media reported that Leatherwood and other Republicans refused to add a change to the minimum age during committee hearings. Rep. Tom Leatherwood, the Shelby County Republican who represents Arlington, sponsored House Bill 233 and introduced it to the Child and Family Affairs Subcommittee on April 23. The legislation aims to legalize common-law marriage in Tennessee in order to fend off the LGBTQ movement. Delaware, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island,[21] New York, and New Jersey do not allow underage marriage.
Other states allow a minor to marry in the following circumstances: The bill would allow them to file prenuptial agreements that are not available to same-sex couples, which would prevent religious groups from being “forced” to marry same-sex couples.