The Republican-controlled Tennessee Legislature unanimously approved a first cousin marriage prohibition recommendation to GOP Gov. Bill Lee.
The law passed the Senate without opposition and the House voted 75-2 Thursday.
Republican Rep. Gino Bulso, a strident opponent, spent most of the discussion advocating for an amendment to enable first-cousin marriages if the couple first consults a genetic counselor.
In a prior committee hearing on the bill, Bulso joked about his grandparents, first cousins from Italy, coming to the U.S. in the 1920s and marrying in Ohio and Tennessee. Bulso voted for the bill in that committee after laughing with other MPs.
During Thursday's floor debate, the socially conservative attorney contended that gay couples are not at risk of producing a kid with birth abnormalities. He argued that banning same-sex cousin marriage would violate the U.S. Supreme Court's homosexual marriage decision and that there is no compelling government interest.
He also called the Supreme Court's gay marriage ruling “grievously wrong.” Bulso supports LGBTQ-friendly legislation. That includes a bill he is sponsoring to generally ban pride flags in public school classrooms, which civil liberties opponents say violates the Constitution.
Bulso asked, “Is there a public health issue with a male marrying a male first cousin?” I believe the answer is no. The ban offered by Democratic Rep. Darren Jernigan prevailed over Bulso's amendment.
Jernigan said a 1960 attorney general's opinion found that first cousins can marry notwithstanding an 1820s Tennessee law prohibiting related marriages. He assured Bulso that his bill did not violate the gay marriage rule.
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