US: Tennessee judge will not grant same-sex couple’s divorce
A Tennessee judge has decided that two men who were married in Iowa cannot be granted a divorce because the state doesn’t recognise their marriage.
Circuit Court Judge Russell Simmons Jr. upheld Tennessee’s marriage ban in his decision, saying current state laws banning same-sex marriage do not violate the US Constitution.
Simmons stated in the decision: “The battle is not between whether or not marriage is a fundamental right but what unions are included in the definition of marriage.”
He said each state should have the ability to define marriage in its own terms.