By Heather Clark
Christian News Network
KINGSTON, Tenn. – For the first time since the courts began ruling on challenges against state marriage amendments enshrining the institution as being between a man and a woman, a judge in Tennessee has upheld the state’s same-sex “marriage” ban as constitutional.
Roane County Circuit Judge Russell E. Simmons, Jr. ruled on a matter surrounding two homosexual men who sought a divorce after tying the knot four years ago in Iowa. He denied the men the divorce as he declined to recognize their relationship under Tennessee law as a marriage.
“The court finds that Tennessee’s laws concerning same-sex marriage do not violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution,” Simmons wrote. “There is nothing irrational about limiting the institution of marriage for the purpose for which it was created, by embracing its traditional definition. To conclude otherwise is to impose one’s own view of what a state ought to do on the subject of same-sex marriage.” Click here to continue reading.
