<p>The crowd celebrates outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday June 26, 2015, after the court declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the US. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)</p>

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By Richard Locker

NASHVILLE — A state legislative committee on Wednesday dealt a serious setback to a bill that attempts to block same-sex marriage in Tennessee.

The bill failed in the House Civil Justice Subcommittee, on an unrecorded voice vote in which there were more "no" votes than "yes" votes to advance the bill further in the committee system. Bills are rarely "killed" in the Legislature because under various rules, supporters could attempt to resurrect it. But the bill is as close to dead for the year as legislation gets.

After the vote, the bill's sponsor, Rep. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, said the bill is dead.

The so-called "Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act" purports to declare last June's U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in all states "void and of no effect" in Tennessee and to forbid state and local agencies and officials from "giving force or effect" to the ruling — in effect prohibiting county clerks from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

It also requires the state attorney general to defend any state or local government official against any lawsuit arising from their refusal to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. State Attorney General Herbert Slatery last summer instructed all county clerks that the Supreme Court ruling must be enforced in the state and that otherwise qualified same-sex couples cannot be denied marriage licenses.

The eight page bill consists of a seven-page preamble of 48 "whereas" paragraphs that attempt to legally justify the effort to block the Supreme Court ruling, followed by a one page of law.

For example, the second "whereas" says that "In Obergefell v. Hodges … five justices of the United States Supreme Court issued a lawless opinion with no basis in American law or history, purporting to overturn natural marriage and find a 'right' to same-sex "marriage" in the United States Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment."

The bill is mostly based on the Tennessee Constitutional amendment ratified by voters in 2006 that declared the marriage "of one man and one woman" the only legally recognized marriage in the state, even if performed in another state.

The amendment won 81 percent of the vote but since that time, public opinions have indicated that attitudes toward same sex marriage have changed. A statewide Vanderbilt University poll conducted in November found that 52 percent of Tennessee registered voters said they "strongly" or "somewhat" oppose same-sex marriage, 32 percent "strongly" or "somewhat" support it and 14 percent neither support nor oppose.

Pody said the 2006 amendment was drafted by Tennessee lawmakers in anticipation of an eventual U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage.

Pody, an insurance agent, asked Jeff Cobble, a lawyer from Greeneville, to present part of his case to the subcommittee. Cobble told lawmakers the dispute "is a separation of powers issue. I can tell you as a student of the Constitution … that there is nothing in federal law ever, ever, ever that gives the federal courts or the federal government constitutional jurisdiction in the field of marriage.

"I'm here to tell you that the U.S. Supreme Court decision is pure social engineering. They have acted lawlessly," Cobble said. "Do we still have states' rights or are we federal subjects. I've spoken to people who say that because of the Civil War amendments we are just federal subjects. I am here today to tell you I am not a federal subject."

Pody presented an amendment that would require every application for a marriage license to be submitted to the state Department of Health's vital records office and which would in turn tell the clerks to deny a license to same-sex couples.

The subcommittee's debate was largely over constitutional principles and federal versus state rights. Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, said the bill is essentially an attempt at "nullification" but no other nullification attempt has succeeded. Carter said he favors a court challenge.

Chet Gallagher, who was with a group called "Courts Can't Make Laws," asked the subcommittee not to kill the bill.

"Do not kill this bill. Let it go to the floor of the House for a vote," the Lebanon, Tenn., man pleaded. "Do not let it die here. Let it go to your peers and be voted on the way its supposed to be voted on. Do not kill this bill in committee. Let it go to the floor. In the name of Jesus I'm asking you to do that."

Rep. Bill Beck, D-Nashville, tried to move the bill to a summer study but it failed for lack of a second.

David Fowler, a former state senator who now heads Family Action Council of Tennessee and who led the campaign in support of Tennessee's anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment, testified briefly before the subcommittee at the request of one of its members and said he's not sure the bill is the best way to challenge the law.

Fowler has scheduled a press conference Thursday at which he will announce details of a lawsuit being filed in state court "over the application and implications" of the Supreme Court ruling "to the continuing validity of Tennessee marriage license laws.

The full text of the House Bill 1412 is available online at http://www.capitol.tn.gov/legislation.