State Rep. Doesn’t Understand How a Bill Designed to Discriminate Against LGBT People Discriminates Against LGBT People
Mississippi Republican State Rep. Andy Gipson late Friday morning told reporters HB 1523 does not discriminate against LGBT people. HB 1523 in fact is a discriminatory anti-LGBT bill that has been called the most extreme anti-LGBT bill introduced anywhere in the nation this year.Â
The bill, which right now is on its way to the governor’s desk, “doesn’t discriminate,” Gipson claims, “nor does it deny services to anybody.”
“It specifically says that, in a case where a person has a religious conviction, they can decline, but they must provide” the service, he said, somewhat confusingly. Rep. Gipson told The Clarion-Ledger that, for example, a circuit clerk must have “someone else in their office provide that service. So, anybody who says this is a bill to deny services, they’re not telling the truth,” he insisted, clearly not understanding the impact a refusal to, say, provide a marriage license, but having a co-worker do it, would impact a same-sex couple, especially if their children were present.
Rep. Gipson’s argument, as weak as it was to begin with, fell apart when a reporter asked him how the bill will affect private businesses.
Gipson compared same-sex couples to birth control, saying, “like a Hobby Lobby, private businesses owned by people of faith, who have sincere religious convictions about particular issues. In the same way that a private business can’t be forced to violate their conscience by providing abortion pills or something like that, under Obamacare, the same type of protection applies to private business owner who has an objection to a particular type of marriage,” Gipson explained. (We’re going to ignore the “abortion pills” comment for the moment, although someone should take that up.)
“So it gives that person protection from discrimination by the government – they can’t be punished for failing, for saying that they cannot be involved in that ceremony.”
See how easy that was?
A same-sex couple who wants to, say, buy a wedding cake or stay in a hotel, but is turned away for being a same-sex couple isn’t being discriminated against because the person who is discriminating against them is a person of faith. Better still, the bill, when it becomes law, will protect those people of faith from being discriminated against by the government.
Win-win, right?
Wrong. Gipson is entirely wrong, and his attempt to whitewash the truth should be of concern to Mississippi voters.
Rep. Gipson’s comments perfectly epitomize how many conservatives view LGBT people: we are not even part of the equation, we are not equal, we are something that threatens and therefore the government needs to protect “real” people, especially people of faith, from us.
Rep. Gipson accused opponents of HB 1523 of not reading the bill. We’d like to accuse him of not reading the U.S. Constitution.
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EARLIER:
Breaking: Mississippi Lawmakers Fast Track Extremist Anti-Gay Bill, Have Just Sent It To Governor
Horrific Anti-LGBT ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill Passes Mississippi Legislature
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Image: Screenshot via The Clarion-Ledger