GOP Lawmakers In Two Southern States File Bills Comparing Same-Sex Marriage To Forced Sterilization

One State Representative Says God Told Him To File The Legislation

Same-sex marriage is as bad as forced sterilization and Japanese internment, according to anti-gay bills introduced in South Carolina and Tennessee. 

Both bills seek to nullify the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which found that state-level bans on same-sex marriage violate the equal protection and due process clauses of the federal Constitution. 

The South Carolina and Tennessee bills, both called “Natural Marriage Defense Act[s],” would bar state officials from recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples — thereby effectively “unmarrying” thousands of people. They would also make it illegal for state officials to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and require the two states’ attorneys general to defend any official who is sued, or ordered by a federal judge to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

“[T]he United States Supreme Court is not infallible and has issued lawless decisions which are repulsive to the Constitution and natural law, including Buck v. Bell, Korematsu v. United States, Roe v. Wade, and, most recently, Obergefell v. Hodges,” the Tennessee bill states. 

The South Carolina bill contains an identical clause. 

Buck v. Bell was a 1927 decision in which the high court upheld a Virginia statute permitting compulsory sterilization of the unfit, “for the protection and health of the state.” Korematsu v. United States was a decision upholding the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II regardless of citizenship.

The Tennessee bill, HB 1412, is authored by GOP state Rep. Mark Pody, who said recently during an event in Nashville that God directed him to file it. 

RELATED: Watch: GOP Lawmaker Says God Personally Told Him To Be A ‘Watchman’ Warning Gay Marriage Is ‘Wicked’

“Ladies and gentlemen, I believe I’m supposed to be speaking to the unsaved, to the people that are performing same-sex marriages, to the people involved in same-sex marriage, it is wicked, it is wrong and I am doing the best I can to warn them,” Pody said in a video posted online by Right Wing Watch. “I believe that Nashville, Tennessee, is the time and the place that we put down the stake and we say, ‘No more!'”

The South Carolina bill, HB 5413, is authored by GOP Reps. Bill Chumley and Mike Burns. Last year, Chumley blamed the nine victims of the Charleston church shooting for their own deaths, suggesting that they should have been carrying guns to defend themselves.

“I represent the people, and the people have shown several times that they are opposed to this, and are in favor of traditional marriage,” Chumley told The Spartanburg Herald Journal, adding that the high court’s 5-4 split on the issue was indicative of the views of all Americans. “Apparently, those four people believe like we do. I do believe that something that’s a close vote like that sends a message, it’s not cut and dry.”

However, University of South Carolina law professor Derek Black explained that under the supremacy clause, state officials don’t have the authority to nullify federal laws or court rulings. 

“It is the task of courts to interpret the Constitution and it is the task of legislators to act in accordance with the Constitution and other validly enacted laws,” Black said. “States may challenge those federal laws and Constitutional interpretations in court. But at this point, the courts have spoken on this particular issue.”  

 

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Hat tip: Talking Points Memo