Homophobic lawmakers booed out of press conference
Two homophobic lawmakers were booed out of a press conference for attempting to stop same-sex marriage in their state.
State Senator Mae Beavers and Representative Mark Pody from Tennessee were holding the meeting to inform the media of the details of the bill they had introduced.
However, after only two minutes, the pair were forced to abandon the conference and make for the door.
Following them down the corridor, the protestors questioned what Ms Beavers and Mr Pody were attempting to do.
One added: “Some kind of Christian you are! You won’t allow someone else to have equal rights under God with you.”
The pair filed the Natural Marriage Defense Act which seeks to define marriage as specifically between one man and one woman, therefore ignoring a 2015 Supreme Court ruling legalising it in all 50 states.
Ms Beavers said: “I don’t feel like this is something the Supreme Court should’ve even take up.
“I believe in State sovereignty and I believe in the ability of Tennessee to write their own Constitution.”
This is not the first time such bills have been introduced in the state.
A second bill, which does not yet have a title, has been introduced to require students to only use the bathroom or locker room corresponding to the sex stated on their birth certificate.
Signed into law in 2016 in North Carolina, HB2 has caused the state to lose estimates of millions of dollars in business and many high profile sporting and music events.
Both types of bills have failed in Tennessee in the past, and both of the new bills were introduced by Mr Pody in the House of Representatives and Ms Beavers in the State Senate.
Both sponsored the marriage bill introduced last year which was killed in the House by a subcommittee.
A bathroom bill was introduced by Representative Susan Lynn last year but was withdrawn eventually.
Jack Daniels was one of 200 business to join a coalition against LGBT discrimination in Tennessee back in December.
Republican lawmakers in the state last month introduced a bill which sought to strictly define the terms ‘mother’ ‘father’ ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ in the state.
