Legal Experts: Proposed Anti-Gay Constitutional Amendment Shields Florists, Bakers – And Murderers

Unintended Consequences of Missouri Bill Would Protect From Prosecution Murderers of a Same-Sex Couples Citing Religious Beliefs, According to Credible Legal Experts

A Missouri bill that would put before voters the chance to write anti-gay discrimination into their constitution has just a few steps to go, but legal experts are warning of unintended consequences. Like many of the 200 or so anti-LGBT bills that are racing through statehouses across America in response to last year’s Supreme Court decision on marriage, SJR39 is sponsored by GOP State Sen. Bob Onder, an anti-gay religious extremist, and not drafted by credible legal experts.

If it were to be enacted, SJR39 would constitutionally “protect” a wide swath of people, organizations, and businesses from serving or doing business with gay people and same-sex couples. Priests would not have to marry same-sex couples (nor would they ever have to, since the First Amendment has always given them that right), churches would not have to rent their facilities out for a same-sex wedding celebration, adoption agencies and even homeless shelters could refuse same-sex couples, and florists, photographers, and bakers would not have to do business with gay couples planning a wedding.

The list goes on and on, with the lynchpin being “sincere religious beliefs” against same-sex marriage.

But legal experts at Columbia University have determined SJR39 would “protect” another group of people: murderers.

“SJR 39 forbids the state from imposing a ‘penalty’ on certain state and private actors because of actions they take related to a ‘sincere religious belief concerning marriage between two persons of the same sex,'” the Public Rights/Private Conscience Project at Columbia writes.

“SJR 39 would prevent prosecution of a member of the Westboro Baptist Church for violations of state or local criminal trespass, property damage, harassment, and assault laws, if committed because of a sincere religious opposition to marriage equality for same-sex couples,” they note.

“Even the murder of a same-sex couple could be shielded from municipal and state prosecution if committed by a member of a ‘religious organization’ and motivated by a religious belief about marriage,” the group of legal experts warn.

Missouri House lawmakers Wednesday night postponed a vote on the bill, delaying it until Monday. SJR39 has already passed the Senate. It needs to pass the House but does not go to the governor, it goes before voters as a ballot initiative. 

Let’s hope House lawmakers kill the bill, before it literally protect murderers.

 

EARLIER:

Breaking: Missouri GOP Senators Break Democrats’ 39 Hour Filibuster, Pass Anti-Gay Bill

Right Now Missouri Democratic Senators Have Been Filibustering An Anti-Gay Bill For Over 15 Hours

Anti-Gay Constitutional Amendment Introduced in Missouri Senate

 

Image by Rusty Clark via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: Doyle Murphy/Riverfront Times