WATCH LIVE: Mississippi House About To Hold Final Vote on Hateful Anti-LGBT ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill

State Chamber of Commerce, Dozens of Businesses Come Out Against HB 1523

LGBT advocates have been protesting a hateful anti-LGBT “religious freedom” bill outside the Mississippi Capitol on Monday. 

Meanwhile, the state’s chamber of commerce, along with dozens of businesses and other organizations, have come out against HB 1523, known as the “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act.”

The Mississippi House voted 68-44 on Friday to send HB 1523 to the desk of Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, but the bill was held on a motion to reconsider that’s expected to be dealt with Monday afternoon. Bryant has said he doesn’t believe the bill is discriminatory, but hasn’t indicated whether he’ll sign it. 

Earlier Monday, representatives from the Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU of Mississippi, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Planned Parenthood and staged a joint press conference in Jackson, where they called on House Speaker Phil Gunn, the author of the bill, not to take it up for a final vote, and for Bryant to veto it should it reach his desk. 

Last week, the Mississippi Economic Council, the state’s chamber of commerce, said it “opposes efforts that would intentionally or unintentionally prevent Mississippi businesses from implementing and enforcing non-discrimination policies or that would limit diversity and inclusion impacting their customers and employees.” 

“HB 1523 conflicts with this policy,” the Economic Council said. 

Numerous individual businesses have also come out against HB 1523, including the state’s largest private employer, Nissan Group of North America, as well as Tyson Foods Inc., MGM Resorts International, Toyota , AT&T, IBM, Levi Strauss and MassMutual, according to HRC. (The Jackson Free Press has list of businesses and other organizations opposed to the bill.)

“They know it’s not good for their employees,” HRC President Chad Griffin said at Monday’s press conference, according to The Clarion Ledger. Griffin said called HB 1523 “a draconian measure that would allow businesses to discriminate by denying services to the LGBT community, legalize Kim Davis-style discrimination on the job, and give taxpayer-funded organizations the right to deny critical services like counseling and mental health care to LGBT people in need.”   

In an editorial published Friday, The Sun Herald of Biloxi wrote that Gunn has led the state into a “legal, moral and ethical swamp.” 

“Condemnation of Gunn’s handiwork has been swift and widespread on social media, which for better or worse, is a major molder of public opinion,” the Sun Herald Editorial Board writes. “But Mississippi officialdom’s attitude has been to shrug off criticism, be it for its flag, its Wild West gun laws or the Confederate emblem on its flag. And it continues to dwell near the bottom on most quality of life measures, be it health care, education, or jobs. This law will only make it harder to row against that tide.”

Rt. Rev. Brian R. Seage, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, is also calling on Bryant to veto the bill. 

“I am aware that some Christian bodies say this legislation is needed,” Seage wrote. “I disagree. It addresses a conflict which does not exist. The Episcopal Church embraces all persons who seek to follow our Lord, and we honor all persons who yearn for equality in this society. Our doors remain open to all God’s children.” 

The House is scheduled to convene at 4 p.m. Central time today. Watch the proceedings live here. 

UPDATE– BREAKING: Mississippi House Sends Anti-LGBT ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill to Gov. Phil Bryant

 

Image by Blake Feldman via Twitter