Social Media Posts Misrepresent Tennessee Bill Allowing Common Law Marriage

quick take

A Tennessee bill aims to exclude same-sex couples from proposed common law marriage contracts. Social media posts misleadingly claim that the bill would allow child marriage and “legalize pedophilia.” The bill initially left out a minimum age, but was amended on April 6 to say that people must be at least 18 years.

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Republican Rep. Tom Leatherwood introduced House Bill 233 to a subcommittee of the Tennessee House of Representatives in early March. He bill would allow a man and a woman to enter into marriage “contracts” based on common law principles that are not yet legally recognized in Tennessee. Same-sex couples would not be eligible for the contracts.

The invoice provoked a violent reaction in the state and across the country because it did not include an age requirement for those seeking such a marriage contract.

sponsors amended the bill on April 6 to say that applicants for the contract, which it specifies as “a man” and “a woman,” must have “attained the age of majority,” which is 18 in Tennessee.

But social media posts continue to misrepresent the bill, claiming that it lacks a minimum age and was intended to facilitate child marriages.

AN facebook post liberal advocacy group april 7 occupy democrats misleadingly states: “Tennessee Republicans are promoting a ‘marry young’ bill that will allow them to marry children of any age. Why is the Republican Party trying to legalize pedophilia? The publication has accumulated more than 3,600 reactions.

The publication attributes his claim to a story of march 29 by the Tennessee news station WJHL. However, the day before Occupy Democrats was published, WJHL reported, “Common Law Marriage Bill Amended to Add Age Requirement While Still Being Considered.”

A similar misleading claim was posted on Facebook on April 6 by a page run by left action that’s called trump sucks.

But as we said, the omission of a minimum age was remedied the same day that this Facebook page published about it.

“ANFiltering or addressing age at marriage was never the intent of this bill. … It’s better bill laying [the age minimum] there,” Leatherwood said, according to the Tennessee.

According to WUSA 9the bill is scheduled to be heard by the Tennessee House Civil Justice Committee on April 13.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.