Tennessee Republican Wants State to Stop Issuing All Marriage Licenses 

It's been more than six months since the U.S. Supreme Court brought marriage equality to all 50 states, but one Tennessee Republican still isn't willing to give up the fight, reports The New Civil Rights Movement.

Rep. Rick Womick, a Republican representing Tennessee's 34th District in the state House, recently proposed that Tennessee should respond to the Supreme Court's ruling by ending the state's issuance of marriage licenses to everyone.

"The state Constitution says that marriage is between one man and one woman, and my personal belief is that God says that marriage is between one man and one woman," Womick told the Daily News Journal on Tuesday. "He created Adam and Eve. God didn't create Adam and Winston."

"That would take the state out of the marriage business altogether," Womick added. "I think that's probably the best approach given the legal climate."

The newspaper noted that Womick last summer led an effort to impeach Gov. Bill Haslam after the Republican governor allowed the Supreme Court's ruling to take effect. In response, Womick issued a letter on his official state letterhead to all 95 county clerks instructing them to ignore the law of the land and refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

In Tuesday's interview with the News Journal, Womick rejected the idea that the Supreme Court's June ruling settled the question of legal marriage equality nationwide.

"They can't create law from the bench, so their opinion is not the law of the land," Womick claimed.

"The Supreme Court is not going to force the state of Tennessee to issue same-sex marriage licenses," he added. "We'll just stop issuing marriage licenses period. You can't force us to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples or to men or women."

Womick is a right-wing Republican who has been a vocal opponent of safe and legal access to abortion in the state, earlier this year authoring a bill that would mandate women considering an abortion to undergo an ultrasound before they could consent to the procedure. He eventually withdrew that bill before the end of the of the legislative session.

A former fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force who served in the Gulf War, Womick's official legislative bio lists him as a Baptist, while The New Civil Rights Movement notes that Womick co-sponsored a bill that sought to name the Bible as the official book of the state of Tennessee.

Womick is far from the first Republican to suggest that his state avoid issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples by stepping out of the marriage business entirely. This year alone, legislative chambers in Alabama and Oklahoma passed bills that would end the state government's role in marriage entirely, making the legal contract a religious rite performed by churches, or a simple contract that requires the signature of a notary, attorney, or clergy member.

That's the arrangement Womick would like to see in Tennessee, he told the News Journal. Marriage, to him, is a religious rite that the state has no business legislating. He did not address the more than 1,100 federal rights and benefits that are conferred upon couples with a legally sanctioned marriage license.

"It used to be that way until after the Civil War," he told the paper.