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Mississippi's religious freedom bill is the worst yet, LGBT activists fear
Source: The Guardian
Mississippi's religious freedom bill is the worst yet, LGBT activists fear
Jana Kasperkevic in New York
Thursday 31 March 2016 17.48 BST
A bill that would allow businesses and public employees in Mississippi to deny service to same-sex couples because of their religious beliefs passed the state senate on Wednesday night. Senators voted 31-17 in favor of the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act.
Similar bills have been introduced in North Carolina and Georgia. Since signing the the bill into a law, North Carolina’s governor Pat McCrory has come under fire from LGBT activists and large US companies such as Apple, Google and Bank of America. Georgia governor Nathan Deal said he would veto his state’s law.
LGBT activists say the Mississippi bill is the most discriminatory yet. It seeks to protect beliefs that marriage is a union between a man and a woman; that “sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage”; and that sex is determined by anatomy and genetics at birth.
The bill, HB1523, will now go back to the Mississippi house, which is expected to vote in its favor a second time, having passed it in February by an 80-39 vote. The bill will then head to the desk of Mississippi governor, Phil Bryant, who is expected to sign it into law.
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Opponents of the bill say it will allow open discrimination against LGBT people. For example, under the law a florist or caterer could decline to work on a same-sex marriage or a doctor could refuse to provide counseling, sex-reassignment surgery or fertility treatment. Schools and companies would be able to set, in the words of the bill, “sex-specific standards or policies concerning employee or student dress or grooming”.
Clerks could also decline to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, skirting federal law.
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Jana Kasperkevic in New York
Thursday 31 March 2016 17.48 BST
A bill that would allow businesses and public employees in Mississippi to deny service to same-sex couples because of their religious beliefs passed the state senate on Wednesday night. Senators voted 31-17 in favor of the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act.
Similar bills have been introduced in North Carolina and Georgia. Since signing the the bill into a law, North Carolina’s governor Pat McCrory has come under fire from LGBT activists and large US companies such as Apple, Google and Bank of America. Georgia governor Nathan Deal said he would veto his state’s law.
LGBT activists say the Mississippi bill is the most discriminatory yet. It seeks to protect beliefs that marriage is a union between a man and a woman; that “sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage”; and that sex is determined by anatomy and genetics at birth.
The bill, HB1523, will now go back to the Mississippi house, which is expected to vote in its favor a second time, having passed it in February by an 80-39 vote. The bill will then head to the desk of Mississippi governor, Phil Bryant, who is expected to sign it into law.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Opponents of the bill say it will allow open discrimination against LGBT people. For example, under the law a florist or caterer could decline to work on a same-sex marriage or a doctor could refuse to provide counseling, sex-reassignment surgery or fertility treatment. Schools and companies would be able to set, in the words of the bill, “sex-specific standards or policies concerning employee or student dress or grooming”.
Clerks could also decline to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, skirting federal law.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/31/mississippi-religious-freedom-bill-lgbt-discrimination-same-sex-marriage
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