Mississippians take action against anti-LGBTQ ‘religious exemption’ bill

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Mississippians protest a bill providing specific religious exemptions to LGBTQ equality on April 4, 2016. Unity Mississippi

By Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press ·
Friday, June 24, 2016

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi is the only state to enact a law listing specific religious beliefs to be protected in reaction to the legalization of same-sex marriage, a professor testified Thursday in federal court.

UCLA law professor Douglas NeJaime testified on behalf of plaintiffs who filed two lawsuits seeking to block Mississippi’s House Bill 1523, a religious-exemptions bill, from becoming law July 1.

The Mississippi law would protect three beliefs: That marriage should only be between a man and a woman, that sex should only take place within such a marriage and that a person’s gender is set at birth. It would allow clerks to cite those beliefs to recuse themselves from issuing marriage licenses to gay or lesbian couples. In addition to marriage licenses, it could affect adoptions, business practices and school bathroom policies.

NeJaime said more than 100 bills were filed in more than 20 state legislatures across the nation after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling nearly a year ago that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/06/mississippians-take-action-anti-lgbtq-religious-exemption-bill/