Its really unfortunate because one of the best national labs in the country is in Tennessee.

As someone who did, I understand the sentiment but it isn’t that easy. I have so many friends and family members who are stuck there because they can’t save enough resources to leave.

Or fucking vote.

Leaving is rarely an option for the people most in danger or most oppressed anyway.

we wound up in a gay bar on a bucks night pub crawl once and it was awesome. also one of the only times in my life I was hit on and yeah, it’s flattering!

I can see making an exception for “religious figures” but the idea that a public servant, like a government official or to lesser extent notary public, can deny service to someone based on their personal beliefs is problematic and certainly something that should be reported on.

“real shitty”

does that mean it doesn’t affect you so fuck it who cares ? Because we did that in the USA for centuries and fuck that. It was real shittier.

Sure, but is issuing a marriage license “solemnizing” the marriage?

The real issue here is that public employees are allowed to bestow different services on different members of the public just based on how they feel. In a Good Old Boys jurisdiction, this could in practice outlaw gay marriage because all it takes is a consistent hiring practice to only get the “right kind” of clerk who won’t issue gay marriage licenses, and it becomes impossible to get one. That can happen in significant percentages of jurisdictions.

Sure, it violates equal protection Constitutional rights, but somehow I think this Supreme Court would find that First Amendment “right to express religious bigotry” wins if those are in conflict.

Nobody should have the right to infringe upon others’ rights. Look up the paradox of tolerance.

Let’s say it’s my religion that I think you should not be allowed to drive because I don’t like you. Now let’s say I work at the DMV and you walk up, should I be allowed to deny you a license because it’s my religion?

For a business to discriminate in many parts of the US, there may be only 1 bakery, or bank, or car rental place, etc. Some places are small, you can’t just “go to someone else” when you only have One option. Almost all business are considered “places of public accommodation”.
For government to discriminate we have the same issue. Many offices have very few employees in MOST of the US. Only large metropolitan cities have, almost adequate, staff. There are not 100 court clerks in Podunk Alabama, or Nowhere Nevada. These places probably have 1 clerk doing multiple jobs.
If you own a business, or work in a government job, you serve the public. That means every nice person, and every freak you hate. This ain’t no hamburger at Burger King, you don’t get to “have it your way”.

I’m trans, that’s been the case for me… my entire gender identity at one point hinged on me making empty legal threats I had no way to back up to gaslight people at the DMV to sign off on something that I already had enough legal documentation to get signed off on.

There was a time when I was federally Female and in my state Male.

Thank God the bitch behind the register who kept using “It” and “They” to refer to me didn’t call my bluff about “Coming back with my Lawyer”… soon as I said that, she clammed up, used the correct pronouns and gave me an F on the gender marker.

Personally I think marriages should only be allowed if both people own a domestic vehicle.

Find one who refuses to marry Republicans, or whites, or straight couples and watch the bitching fly.

Be funnier if alot went along with it.

Interracial marriage is safe until Justice Thomas hits a rough spot in his marriage.

You should actually try to get the job and do just that

Not a huge concern but I do fear polygamist taking advantage. That’s not to say polygamy is inherently bad. Just from what I know of polygamy it’s usually patriarchal and used to prey on vulnerable women.

How would you handle sponsorship for immigration?

Make all federal recognition of marriage based on a federal license.

I can re-register my car, re-issue my license, change or verify my voter info online, even all the gods hope file my taxes online cheaply(cough free) these days. I dont see why two consenting adults who both file the info shouldn’t be able to… but then minds would explode. I mean we recently found out that alabama thinks that eggs are actual humans, which opens so many food based questions I’ll stop going.

In case anyone else was wondering, you might know this case better as Obergefell (since SCOTUS cases are typically informally called by the plaintiff’s name).

And Loving v. Virginia is next.

In general, the cities in red states are very progressive. New Orleans and Miami are two of the least small-c conservative cities you’ll find in the U.S., more akin to San Francisco than a place like Boston. (Boston has amazing universities and is progressive in policy but it was founded by puritans and isn’t exactly known for it’s late night parties and festivals.)

By contrast, more Californians voted for Trump than Texans. It’s mostly an urban/rural divide at this point and whether your state government is a horror show or not depends on whether your cities are large enough to create a majority after districts are drawn.

Also, there’s a lot of outrageous bills introduced by one state rep that will never get a vote. But they know they’ll result in clickbait articles and help them gain notoriety.

The people are friendly during the day, the food tastes good, the natural beauty is something else, and if your car breaks down chances are someone young will fix it for free someone old will give you a ride into town plus most of them have a 3rd worlder work ethic that allows them to build in temperatures that should kill you.

At the same time southern rage is a real plus scary thing and none of them are that far from lynching.

It’s a real shame, because there is so much non-shit in these places too. As someone from one of these states (Ohio), it makes me sad to see my home turned into a punchline and a cautionary tale because of what the extremists have done. Sometimes it feels like we’ve been abandoned :(

We Americans don’t either.

That’s an astute observation.

TN is home not only to a motivated republican political class bent on ensuring their continued role overseeing the state’s people and determining what access to medical care should be available, but also to the Country Music Hall of Fame and to Jack Daniels Distillery. The latter is interesting and getting there takes you through beautiful country, but you should know it’s located in a “dry county” before you go and their products can’t be sold there.

TN is also the last state I’m aware of where fire departments were in recent years permitted to respond only to protect neighboring property rather than to protect the property which was actually on fire; but had not paid its subscription service

Well, that last doesn’t exactly cast it in a positive light, either. But that’s life in a red state for ya, there’s a whole lot of gorgeous country that is (politically) painted bright red, unfortunately. While I’ve little need to travel presently, there aren’t many southern states I’d go out of my way to spend money in, if I could help it.

In before “you need to be licensed to officiate in AL” and “our licensing board can refuse to license on moral grounds”.

Agreed. Unfortunately, the Tennessee House of Reps have been making an ass of themselves for quite some time and it may not change any time soon. Though one can hope voters start doing the right thing and ousting these conniving bigots.