An Open Letter to the Tennessee House and Senate

To:

The Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives The Members of the Tennessee Senate

Representative Gino Bulso, Sponsor of HB1473Senator Janice Bowling, Sponsor of SB1746

To those who historically organized under the White Citizens’ Councils (founded July 1954 in Mississippi and expanded throughout the South),

To the Council of Conservative Citizens (founded 1985),

To the White Citizens’ Council network that promoted organized “respectable resistance” to desegregation,

To State Senator Charles A. Stainback, who sponsored segregation legislation,

To Willard H. Till and others associated with legislative resistance to desegregation,

To Robert Patterson, Founder (Indianola, Mississippi, July 1954)

• The most central and documented leader who were associated with segregationist organizing,

To Gordon Baum, former president of the Council of Conservative Citizens,

John Kasper of New Jersey White Citizens council 1954

🔹 William J. Simmons

• National Citizens’ Council executive director

• Prominent spokesperson

🔹 Judge Tom P. Brady (Mississippi)

• Not an officer per se, but highly influential

• Wrote Black Monday, defending segregation

🔹 James O. Eastland (U.S. Senator, Mississippi)

• Not a council officer, but aligned with segregationist resistance

• Powerful political ally of resistance efforts

To state legislatures drafting bans and restrictions on marriage recognition,

To county clerks and agencies enforcing marriage restrictions,

To local school boards that once enforced segregation,

To sheriffs and local officials who historically protected discriminatory systems,

To courts that have legitimized exclusionary law,

And to all living descendants who continue to advance legal frameworks that restrict marriage to one man and one woman under the language of tradition, states’ rights, or religious authority:

A Letter to the Tennessee House and Senate

Regarding HB1473 / SB1746 and the Arc of Civil Rights History

Rev. Paula Josephine Sadler

Founding Minister, Universal Rainbow Faith February 2026

To the Members of the Tennessee General Assembly:

I write to you regarding HB1473 and SB1746, legislation that asserts private citizens and organizations are not bound by the Fourteenth Amendment to recognize same-sex marriages and that refers to such unions as “purported marriages.”

This language is not neutral. It is not harmless. It is not merely procedural.

It is historically familiar.

And Tennessee should recognize that familiarity.

I. The Long Arc of Resistance to Equality

Tennessee’s history includes both courage and cruelty.

After the Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education (1954), declaring segregation unconstitutional, organized resistance emerged across the South.

Among those who worked to preserve segregation in Tennessee was State Senator Charles A. Stainback of Somerville, who sponsored legislation designed to slow or obstruct school desegregation.

At the same time, organized resistance networks formed, including Tennessee chapters of the White Citizens’ Councils — organizations that presented themselves as respectable civic groups while working systematically to maintain racial hierarchy through economic intimidation, political pressure, and states’ rights rhetoric.

These Councils did not disappear quickly. They lasted into the 1970s.

In 1985, former segregationist activists reorganized under a new name: the Council of Conservative Citizens. One of its later presidents, Gordon Baum, remained active in that organization until his death in 2015.

This timeline matters.

From 1954 to 2015 is not ancient history. It is a continuous arc.

Ideas do not vanish when organizations dissolve. They rebrand. They adapt. They adopt new language.

II. The Historical Record on Marriage

Before June 12, 1967:

Interracial couples could be arrested. Their marriages were declared invalid. Children were stigmatized. Families were torn apart.

The arguments used to defend anti-miscegenation laws were familiar:

• “It’s against God’s design.”• “It harms society.”• “It weakens family structure.”• “States should decide.”• “Tradition defines marriage.”

These were not fringe statements. They were mainstream defenses of discrimination.

Then came Loving v. Virginia (1967).

The Supreme Court declared:

“Marriage is one of the basic civil rights of man.”

That principle did not destroy society.

It strengthened it.

III. A Side-by-Side Historical Comparison

Then: Anti-Miscegenation	Now: Marriage Equality Targeted
“Interracial marriage is unnatural.”	“Same-sex marriage is unnatural.”
“It violates God’s design.”	“It violates God’s design.”
“States’ rights must prevail.”	“States’ rights must prevail.”
“It harms the family structure.”	“It harms the family structure.”
Marriages declared invalid.	Marriages labeled “purported.”
Couples denied recognition.	Couples denied recognition.

The rhetoric has changed in detail. The structure has not.

IV. The Scripture You Know

In Exodus 20:5 and Numbers 14:18, Scripture warns that the “sins of the father are visited upon the children.”

This is not a declaration of inherited guilt.

It is a warning about inherited systems.

When injustice is written into law, it echoes across generations.

When discrimination is normalized, it becomes civic culture.

When constitutional protections are treated as optional, they erode.

Tennessee once justified segregation through “states’ rights.”

Tennessee once upheld racial hierarchy under the banner of “tradition.”

Tennessee once witnessed the lynching of Elbert Williams in 1940 — the last recorded lynching in the state.

That is not distant mythology.

That is within generational memory.

V. HB1473 / SB1746 in That Context

When a bill states that private citizens are not bound by the Fourteenth Amendment to recognize certain marriages…

When a legislature describes marriages as “purported” based solely on the sex of the participants…

When constitutional protections are framed as optional depending on ideology…

History speaks loudly.

HB1473 and SB1746 do not merely protect religious conscience.

They create a permission structure for discrimination.

That structure is historically traceable.

VI. The Constitutional Arc

1954 – Brown v. Board of Education1964 – Civil Rights Act1967 – Loving v. Virginia2015 – Obergefell v. Hodges

Each expansion of equality was opposed.

Each was defended using nearly identical language.

Each is now regarded as a milestone of justice.

The question before Tennessee is simple:

Will you align yourselves with the arc of constitutional liberty —or with the resistance movements that history ultimately discredits?

VII. The Moral Question

Show the harm.

Show the measurable societal damage caused by two consenting adults loving one another, committing to one another, marrying, raising children, building households, contributing to their communities.

You cannot.

Marriage strengthens communities.

Commitment stabilizes families.

Recognition reduces stigma.

Exclusion breeds harm.

VIII. The Legacy Question

The White Citizens’ Councils did not survive because they were righteous.

They dissolved because constitutional enforcement and moral clarity overtook them.

The Council of Conservative Citizens did not fade because discrimination succeeded.

It faded because society moved forward.

But ideology always seeks a new vehicle.

The question is whether Tennessee will provide one.

IX. A Final Appeal

This is not about partisanship.

It is about whether Tennessee will repeat the structural logic of past discrimination under new names.

It is about whether the state will declare some marriages real and others “purported.”

It is about whether constitutional protections are universal or conditional.

History is watching.

Future generations are watching.

And the measure of this legislature will not be how loudly it defended tradition, but whether it defended dignity.

Marriage is not weakened when it is expanded.

Freedom is not diminished when it is shared.

The sins of the father need not be visited upon the children —if the present generation has the courage to break the cycle.

Respectfully,

Rev. Paula Josephine Sadler

Founding Minister

Universal Rainbow Faith

A Prayer for Healing, Dignity, and Sacred Union

Dear God,

Please heal this uncommon sense and insanity in Tennessee.

Heal the harm that has been done through segregation. Heal the harm that has been done through marriage inequality. Heal those who were wounded by laws that divided. Heal those who enforced those laws. Heal those who carry generational pain. Heal those who carry generational fear.

Dear Father, Mother God, please heal this situation.

We need You now.

We need You in the hearts and minds of legislators in the House and the Senate — not only in Tennessee, but everywhere in this country and throughout the world.

I pray that Your will be done — not the will of prejudice. Not the will of fear. Not the will of political power. But Your will — which is justice, mercy, and love.

Restore dignity to all who have been told their love is “purported. "Restore grace to all who have been told their union is invalid. ReStore humanity where systems have stripped it away.

Let the sanctity of marriage and sacred union between all people who choose to enter into this covenant together be afforded full protection and opportunity.

End discrimination. End prejudice toward same-sex couples. End prejudice toward transgender people. End hypocrisy. End racism. End bigotry disguised as righteousness.

I have said, and I pray it again before You:

“Marriage is not defined that it belongs only to one man and one woman. Marriage is for anyone who wants to enter into a sacred union and make a commitment to love and honor each other.”— Rev. Paula Josephine Sadler

I believe that marriage is defined not by one man and one woman alone, but by two people loving one another in sacred union — whoever they may be: two men, two women, transgender people — and that it is sanctioned by You.

If love is patient and kind, If love keeps no record of wrongs, If love never fails —

Then let love be protected.

Lay down prejudice in this land. Lay down discrimination. Lay down the spirit of division. Lay down the false righteousness that wounds.

Replace it with humility. Replace it with understanding. Replace it with courage. Replace it with compassion.

Heal those who caused harm. Heal those who were harmed. Heal Tennessee. Heal this nation. Heal the world.

Please help us.

We ask for Your grace to cover every family, every union, every couple who seeks to love one another in truth.

May sacred union be honored. May dignity be restored. May justice roll down like waters. May mercy triumph over judgment.

And may we remember that every human being bears Your image.

Amen.

— Rev. Paula Josephine Sadler

Universal Rainbow Faith

📬 CONTACT & PUBLIC RECORD DISTRIBUTION

This Open Letter has been directed to the following public officials, legislative offices, and institutional bodies:

🏛 Tennessee House of Representatives

425 Rep. John Lewis Way N. Cordell Hull Building Nashville, TN 37243Phone: (615) 741-6808Member Directory: https://www.capitol.tn.gov/house/members/

🏛 Tennessee Senate

425 Rep. John Lewis Way suite 700, Cordell Hull Building Nashville, TN 37243Phone: (615) 741-6694Member Directory: https://www.capitol.tn.gov/senate/members/

🔹 Representative Gino Bulso

Sponsor, HB1473rep.gino.bulso@capitol.tn.govOffice: Suite 520, Cordell Hull Building Phone: (615) 741-6808

🔹 Senator Janice Bowling

Sponsor, SB1746sen.janice.bowling@capitol.tn.govOffice: Suite 718, Cordell Hull Building Phone: (615) 741-6694

⚖ Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts

511 Union Street, Suite 600Nashville, TN 37219Phone: (615) 741-2687

🗂 Tennessee Secretary of State

312 Rosa L. Parks Avenue Nashville, TN 37243Phone: (615) 741-2819

🏛 County Clerks & Local Officials

County-level officials may be contacted through their respective county offices. Directory: https://sos.tn.gov/elections/guides/county-election-commissions

📜 Historical Reference Acknowledgment

This letter references historical institutions and public records, including:

• White Citizens’ Councils (founded July 1954, Indianola, Mississippi) • Council of Conservative Citizens (founded 1985)• Publicly documented figures associated with segregation-era resistance

These references are historical in nature and included for contextual and archival purposes.

✉ Author Contact

Rev. Paula Josephine Sadler Founder, Universal Rainbow Faith Website: www.universalrainbowfaith.orgEmail: contact@universalrainbowfaith.org