TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Katharine Heriges on Jan 18, 2017
Two lawmakers filed legislation this week to establish strictly-defined parameters for the terms mother, father, husband and wife based on “biological distinctions between women and men,” the Tennessean reports. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Tullahoma, and Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, comes following a 2016 child custody case in Knoxville involving same-sex parents. If the bill passes, the definition would apply any time those words are used in Tennessee law, no matter the law’s topic. A Tennessean search of the 2016 Annotated Code found just the word "mother" alone appeared in 110 sections. A similar bill died in the state legislature last year.