Tennessee Judge Keeps Couple Married Due To Gay Marriage Ruling
A Tennessee judge is keeping a couple married together against their will and cites the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage. Hamilton County Chancellor Jeffrey Atherton denied the divorce between 65-year-old Thomas Bumgardner and 61-year-old Pamela because he doesn’t know what is defined as a marriage by law, and stated that involves contested divorces. According to reports, “After four days of testimony, Atherton decided their marriage was not ‘irretrievably broken,’ and said it could be salvaged.“
The couple were married since 2002 and filed for divorce last September. They don’t have children, so that would generally make the process a little bit easier. Many believe this is just the issue of Atherton trying to make a point over the Supreme Court ruling, which he shouldn’t be doing. In the report, Chattanooga attorney Mike Richardson didn’t believe the same-sex marriage laws had an intent to interfere with divorces.
