With a few strokes of pens over three pieces of paper Tuesday afternoon, around 150 Chattanooga area residents subverted a new Tennessee law aimed at restricting who can officiate weddings in the state.
The Seattle-based organization American Marriage Ministries, which primarily operates an online ordination service, has been making stops across Tennessee, including at Hampton Inn & Suites at Hamilton Place on Tuesday, to offer in-person ordination training in response to a law scheduled to go into effect July 1 that would revoke online ordination certifications.
The law added local and state representatives to the list of officials able to officiate marriages, but other supporters of the the law acknowledged it was intended to stop Tennesseans from going online to become ordained ministers.
Lewis King, American Marriage Ministries executive director, said his organization was overwhelmed with messages after the law passed from people concerned about their licenses. The organization has more than 13,400 ministers in the state. The law changes put some upcoming weddings at risk, Lewis said.
“We have ministers that have weddings coming up in the next week, two weeks, three weeks and they need to be able to serve the communities they’re working with,” Lewis said.