On March 14, federal judge Aleta Trauger granted a preliminary injunction against Tennessee’s ban on same-sex marriage to allow the marriages of three Tennessee same-sex couples to be recognized, including UT’s own Sophy Jesty and Valeria Tanco, both faculty members in the veterinary program.
Two weeks after the courtroom victory, the couple’s daughter, Emilia Jesty, was born at UT Hospital.
“For us, the preliminary injunction coming through a week before Emilia’s due date was really monumental,” Jesty said. “She snuck in at the perfect time to have a birth certificate with both of our last names on it. It’s huge, because that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.”
The lawsuit, brought by the three Tennessee couples in October 2013, gained state and national attention. Tanco said strangers will often approach her and her wife to thank them for their battle in the name of same-sex marriage rights.
“The other day, a couple with their teenage daughter and teenage niece came over and thanked us and asked if their daughter could meet us,” Tanco said. “And she was explaining to them what we had done, which was so meaningful to me because that was their kids; not just an adult person who understands it, but a mother teaching her child about a topic that so many parents are hesitant to bring up.
“Friends and family have been so supportive, but it’s these interactions with strangers that are the most touching because they’re unexpected.”
However, Justice Trauger’s ruling continues to draw dissent. In a USA Today article, published March 14, state Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, said he was disappointed in the ruling.
“I am saddened that a federal judge has chosen to, at least in a narrow way, overturn the will of over 81 percent of the people of the state of Tennessee who devoted to define marriage as between a man and a woman,” Bell said. “I am hoping the higher courts will overturn this activist judge’s ruling.”
Bell’s data comes from the 2006 Tennessee Marriage Protection Amendment, an amendment that Jesty claims is outdated.
“If you did it again today, I think that you’d be shocked about the results,” Jesty said. “And even if it was still 81 percent, it wouldn’t matter. A populace opinion is still not the right opinion; what is popular is not always right. Anybody who wants to can be disappointed in a ruling for same sex equal rights, but it seems to me that they’re going to be on the wrong side of history.
“There is no argument against equal rights, there is no separate but equal; the court has already decided that. Marriage equality in Tennessee and the United States, is inevitable.”
In the opinion of Regina Lambert, the lawyer representing Jesty and Tanco, leaving marriage equality up to individual states could create a messy situation.
“We need to have one flat rule across the nation; there’s too many sub-rules,” said Lambert. “It’s like trying to play Monopoly with people who grew up in different families with different rules, and they’re trying to make them all work together.”
Despite the current climate, Lambert said the future of the ongoing case and marriage equality in Tennessee looks promising.
“Every single state that has had their Defense of Marriage Act challenged has lost,” Lambert said. “There has been no court to date that has said anything other than ‘this is discriminatory, a violation of constitutional rights.’
“We hope that this matter is resolved quickly. Every single day that people are denied their rights is one day too many.”
