House Bill 1111, officially called An act to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 1, Chapter 3, relative to the construction of statutes, is a 2017 law in the state of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

that added the following text: "undefined words shall be given their natural and ordinary meaning, without forced or subtle construction that would limit or extend the meaning of the language, except when a contrary intention is clearly manifest."

Passage

On March 26, 2017, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed HB 1111, with 70 yeas and 23 nays. On April 27, 2017, the

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any issue rega ...

passed HB 1111, with 23 yeas, 6 nays, and 1 did not vote. On May 5, 2017, Governor

Bill Haslam William Edward Haslam (; born August 23, 1958) is an American billionaire businessman and politician who served as the 49th governor of Tennessee from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Haslam previously served as the 67th mayor of ...

signed HB 1111 into law as Pub. Ch. 302.HB 1111 by *Farmer
/ref>

Reaction

The bill was sponsored by Andrew Farmer, a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the Tennessee House of Representatives and John Stevens, a Republican member of the

. Both Farmer and Stevens said the bill did not target the LGBT community. However, David Fowler of the Family Action Council of Tennessee hoped the bill would force judges to define marriage as between a man and a woman. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Campaign said it was an attempt to challenge ''

Obergefell v. Hodges ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protect ...

''. Additionally, the

Tennessee Equality Project The Tennessee Equality Project is an LGBT organization in the United States state of Tennessee.Frances Green, ''Gayellow Pages USA 2008-2009'', Renaissance House, 2008, p. 40/ref> Overview The Tennessee Equality Project was founded on June 15, 200 ...

called it the " LGBT erasure bill". The Tennessee chapter of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

called for the governor to veto the bill.

References

Tennessee law LGBT rights in the United States 2017 in Tennessee 2017 in LGBT history 2017 in American law Same-sex marriage in the United States Marriage in Tennessee {{Tennessee-stub

Passage

Reaction

See also

References