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Vicious anti-LGBT bill signed into law in Mississippi

Today, the Mississippi government put its stamp on discrimination and created a sweeping license for anyone to target LGBT people under the guise of religion. The Missisippi governor just signed HB 1523—one of the worst anti-LGBT bills in the country—into law.

Being able to live according to your beliefs is important. That’s why the First Amendment already protects the freedom to practice your religion. But that wasn’t enough for Mississippi legislature, which decided to single out a particular set of beliefs for special treatment. HB 1523 says that people who refuse to recognize the existence of transgender people, oppose same-sex marriage, or believe that sex outside of marriage is wrong can discriminate with impunity.

This law attacks trans people, same-sex couples, and unwed parents in every facet of life—at school, at work, even in their family life. It lets anyone use religious or moral beliefs to justify denying trans people necessary medical care, firing them from their jobs or turning them away from shelters. It allows schools and employers to force trans kids to use the wrong restrooms or dress according to their sex assigned at birth and demand at will that anyone who needs to use a restroom provide proof of their anatomy or genetics. It takes away the state’s ability to intervene when a foster or adoptive parent punishes a trans kid for who they are or subjects them to conversion therapy—a practice that is widely recognized by the medical community to be harmful, even abusive. And the list goes on.

There’s no law like HB 1523 in any state other than Mississippi right now. Every state that has considered a bill even remotely like it ultimately rejected it. Just last week, Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia decided to veto a religious exemption bill, saying that it amounted to “state-sanctioned discrimination.” Governor Deal rightly recognized that the Georgia bill could have dangerous consequences that go far beyond what the legislature intended—something he said was “too great a risk to take.” That risk is even greater in Mississippi, where the new law is far more sweeping than the bill in Georgia, with potentially destructive side effects that could reach all Mississippians.

This law isn’t about protecting people with anti-LGBT views from any real harm. There has not been a single incident of anyone in Mississippi facing penalties under state law for discriminating against LGBT people—or even any hypothetical consequences. While transgender Mississippians are protected by many federal laws—none of which are impacted by HB 1523—there are no state laws prohibiting discrimination against them. 

This new law doesn’t help any Mississippians: it’s a piece of political theater with dangerous repercussions for its LGBT community. It’s shameful that elected officials in Mississippi have stooped to vilifying some of their most vulnerable constituents just to score a few political points.

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