Mississippi Governor Latest To Sign 'Religious Freedom' Bill

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant became Tuesday the latest governor to sign a "religious freedom" bill, thrusting the state to the forefront of a debate over civil liberties and religious protections.

LGBT advocates across the country called it the worst of its kind, while the bill's proponents said it protects people's rights to religious freedom.

The bill, officially HB 1523, applies to people, religious organizations and some businesses who have a "sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction."

It provides sweeping protections to people who hold those beliefs, allowing them, among other things, to fire, deny housing and refuse to serve people who don't.

"This is a sad day for the state of Mississippi and for the thousands of Mississippians who can now be turned away from businesses, refused marriage licenses, or denied housing, essential services and needed care based on who they are," Jennifer Riley-Collins, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi said in an emailed statement to Patch.

"This bill flies in the face of the basic American principles of fairness, justice and equality and will not protect anyone’s religious liberty. Far from protecting anyone from ‘government discrimination,’ as the bill claims, it is an attack on the citizens of our state, and it will serve as the Magnolia State’s badge of shame.”

North Carolina has come under serious fire for passing a similar bill. Several states and large cities across the country have banned public travel to the state, and PayPal announced Monday that it was putting plans for a Charlotte expansion on hold.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a similar bill in his state last week amid fears of losing business deals and major events like the Super Bowl.

The Mississippi bill, which you can view here, specifically defines three "sincerely held religious beliefs" protected under the soon-to-be law:

1. Marriage is between one man and one woman.
2. "Sexual relations" should be restricted to marriage.
3. "Male" and "female" are defined by biological sex at birth.

Bryant defended the law in a statement, saying that "this bill does not limit any constitutionally protected rights or actions of any citizen of this state under federal or state laws."

The statement continued: "The legislation is designed in the most targeted manner possible to prevent government interference in the lives of the people from which all power to the state is derived."

The bill is scheduled to go into effect on July 1. An ACLU Mississippi spokesperson told Patch that the organization is looking into its possible legal options. The North Carolina branch sued the state shortly after that law was passed.

The bill extends these protections to "persons" and "religious organizations," but sweeping definitions of those terms opens the door for widespread immunity.

Under the bill, the definition of a "person" includes "closely held company," "association" and "corporation," so long as that "person" holds one of the three religious beliefs laid out in the bill.

The bill allows those people to deny goods and services — including "photography," "floral arrangements" and "wedding planning" — on the basis of religious beliefs.

“It gives protection to those in the state who cannot in a good conscience provide services for a same-sex marriage,” state Sen. Jennifer Branning said on the Senate floor Wednesday night, according to Buzzfeed.

Opponents say that it opens the door for statewide discrimination of gay and transgender Mississippians, who already feel ostracized in the deeply religious state.

“This is the most hateful bill I have seen in my career in the legislature,” Rep. Stephen Holland said. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You are doing nothing but discrimination.”

The bill also opens the door for religious foster parents to subject their kids to controversial "conversion therapy," which seeks to "cure" children of being gay or transgender and has been banned in several states.

"This law — like the draconian anti-LGBT laws in other states — uses the guise of 'religious freedom' to justify discrimination," the Southern Poverty Law Center's Jody Owens said in a statement. "It's the same sort of rationale used by white supremacists in earlier eras to justify slavery and Jim Crow.

"The estimated 60,000 LGBT people in Mississippi deserve better. We need to stand up for the rights of all people."

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates as they become available.

Cody Fenwick contributed reporting to this story.

Image via U.S. Department of Agriculture