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TN attorney general asks Congress to protect religious nonprofit groups after gay marriage ruling
Just before Independence Day, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery joined a group of his peers across the country asking Congress to take pre-emptive action protecting religious freedoms in the wake of the Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage.
He was right to do this.
In all, 15 state attorneys general signed a letter delivered to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House John Boehner requesting that the two draft and advance legislation which would protect religious entities from losing their tax-exempt status if they refuse to conduct same-sex nuptials.
Though the Internal Revenue Service has yet to formally say it might challenge religious institutions that decline wedding services based on sexuality, U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. raised many an eyebrow when he testified before the high court that the tax-exempt question "is going to be an issue" on the gay marriage matter.
That pull-quote alone provides justifiable grounds for Tennessee's AG to petition Congress on behalf of places of worship. After all, it's been little over two years since the public first learned that the IRS routinely targeted conservative groups, delaying the approval of their tax-exempt applications.
Slatery's move was jabbed at by Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project, who was quoted by the Tennessean saying "this is another instance of beating the religious freedom drum, which I think is really the only card the opposition has right now."
But Sanders is missing an important point. The letter Slatery signed to Congress is not about opposition to marriage equality - both he and Gov. Bill Haslam have said that Tennessee will cooperate with the Supreme Court's ruling. It's about the protection of religious liberty. It's a lazy man's game to draw a straight line between the two.
That, however, is exactly what scorched earth opponents of religious freedom want us to be - intellectually lazy when framing the marriage equality discussion. They prefer gay marriage to be a stark black and white topic, free from any lines of distinction or shades of nuance. The more the dialogue is skewed to the extremes, the better for them.
If they are able to steer the conversation to the poles, participants are either lovers of liberty or hateful bigots. Nothing in between. And who wants to be a bigot, right?
News flash: It is possible to be in favor of both gay marriage and religious freedoms.
I know, I know. Talk about a paradigm buster. If you need a minute to let your head stop spinning, that's OK.
As hard as it is for some to conceptualize this, the honest advocacy of individual liberties means that we can be very happy that Steve and Larry can be married while also wanting churches to rest assured that they can stick to their own principles without fear of reprisal.These do not have to be mutually exclusive circumstances, as they are both anchored in the same principle: freedom.
Slatery and his peers were not taking a swipe at gay marriage. They were simply taking an important step to make sure that everyone's liberties are equally preserved by more clearly defining the new matrimonial terrain.
And the letter isn't as preemptive a move as its detractors might have us believe, especially when considering that one of the largest providers of church liability insurance, Southern Mutual, told its clients last week that they will not cover damages awarded by courts to plaintiffs in same-sex wedding cases.
Churches need to know, and they need to know immediately, that they will be protected in both the courts and the tax code.
At the end of the day, we're supposed to be working toward a level playing field for everyone. Two weeks ago, supporters of marriage equality celebrated that accomplishment.
Now we've got to make sure that plane stays balanced.
David Allen Martin is a syndicated columnist who writes from Chattanooga. You can email him at davidallenmartin423@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @DMart423.