Federal Appeals Court Denies Review of Extremist Anti-Gay ‘Religious Liberty’ Law – Will SCOTUS Intervene?
Allows Nearly Anyone to Discriminate Based on Their Closely Held Religious Beliefs
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has turned down a request to allow the full court to review a Mississippi state law that will allow nearly anyone – including individuals, businesses, and even government officials – to claim their “sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction” mandates they refuse to serve LGBT people, same-sex couples, anyone who has had sex out of the bonds of man-woman marriage, or an abortion. It also bars the state from taking action against anyone who discriminated based on their religious belief that that “male” and “female” refer to someone’s “immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.”
Called the most extreme anti-LGBT bill in the nation, Republican Governor Phil Bryant last year signed HB 1523 into law. It’s been on hold over several court challenges but right now, it will go into effect Friday.
A federal judge in 2016 it “state-sanctioned discrimination.“
A three-judge panel on Friday rejected the Campaign for Southern Equality’s request for an en banc hearing, by the full Fifth Circuit. The LGBT rights organization says they are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Clarion Ledger reports CSE and Lambda Legal are also asking the Fifth Circuit to not allow the law to go into effect until the Supreme Court responds.
“We are appealing to our nation’s highest court to make sure that attempts by state legislatures to defy the law of the land and trample the rights of LGBT people are blocked for good,†Susan Sommer, director of Constitutional Litigation at Lambda Legal, says. “Mississippi’s HB 1523 creates a toxic environment of fear and prejudice. Along with other anti-LGBT laws across the country like those in North Carolina and Texas, these laws are a pack of wolves in sheep’s clothing, dressing up discrimination and calling it religious freedom.â€
KRON notes that Alliance Defending Freedom, which is an anti-gay hate group according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, “helped write the Mississippi law.”
No word yet from the Supreme Court – stay tuned.
To comment on this article and other NCRM content, visit our Facebook page.
Image by Blake Feldman via Twitter.
If you find NCRM valuable, would you please consider making a donation to support our independent journalism?
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.