NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WMOT) -- The annual Nashville Pride Festival was held Saturday at Public Square Park.
Organizers say this year’s festival attracted one of the largest and most enthusiastic crowds the event’s ever experienced. Chris Sanders of the Tennessee Equality Project says the past year’s long string of legal victories forcing states across the country to recognize same sex marriages has the LGBT community fired up.
“You could absolutely sense it. I mean, there was a real optimism that the change is happening faster around the country and is even going to hit Tennessee very soon.”
Sanders says he expects a ruling this summer from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on an injunction that would force the State of Tennessee to recognize same-sex marriages performed legally in other states.
Sanders says if the court does force the state to recognize those marriages, that a legal challenge to Tennessee’s constitutional ban on gay marriage will likely follow.