The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday its refusal to hear a case challenging Mississippi's religious liberty law known as the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act, HB1523. This is great news for religious liberty!
Mississippi's 2016 religious liberty law defines and protects three basic religious beliefs: Marriage is the union of one man and one woman, sexual relations are confined to such a marriage, and the terms "male" and "female" refer to a person's "immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth."
AFA is grateful for the vast number of our supporters in Mississippi who contacted their elected officials to support the MS religious liberty bill. Mississippi grass roots helped make a significant difference in the passage of this bill.
Send an email now thanking Gov. Phil Bryant (R), Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R), and Speaker Philip Gunn (R), as well as the members of the MS State Legislature, for supporting HB1523.
Gov. Bryant said in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision:
“We are very satisfied [with the decision]. The Supreme Court did exactly what the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals did: they said the plaintiffs have no standing, no one has been harmed, no one has been discriminated against. And the Supreme Court said that the 5th Circuit was absolutely right, that the plaintiffs had no standing. The law has been in effect since October, three months now.”
Kevin Theriot of Alliance Defending Freedom who has defended the law in court said:
"We think the Supreme Court did the right thing in allowing the 5th Circuit's ruling to stand because there really is no constitutional crisis when a state like Mississippi decides to protect the religious convictions and moral convictions of people who believe in marriage between one man and one woman."
The bill was signed into law in 2016 by Gov. Bryant. Mississippi's Southern District Judge Carlton Reeves ruled that the law would violate a person’s constitutional rights. Gov. Bryant appealed that decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that ultimately reversed Judge Reeves' court decision. On appeal to the 5th Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the complaint by same-sex advocates. The MS religious liberty law remains in effect.
AFA strongly supported HB1523 throughout the legislative process. This law is necessary due to the U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision that created a "constitutionally protected" right to same-sex marriage in every state. The ruling failed to protect people and entities that hold religious beliefs on marriage and sexuality that conflict with the government's newfound right to same-sex marriage.
Send an email now thanking Gov. Phil Bryant (R), Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R), and Speaker Philip Gunn (R), as well as the members of the MS State Legislature, for supporting HB1523.
