Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said: “Gov Phil Bryant adds his name to a list of disgraced Southern governors by signing this hateful and discriminatory bill into law”. Bryant said in his statement that the law “does not limit any constitutionally protected rights or actions of any citizen of this state under federal or state laws”.
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Cuomo also banned travel to North Carolina last month, after that state enacted a law that bars transgender individuals from using restrooms appropriate to the gender they identify with.
Religious objection measures began emerging in various states in response to the 2015 US Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage.
Supporters of the law say they’re confident the protections will stand up to challenges. Instead, it is a vision of a public sphere in which those with “sincerely held religious beliefs”, including businesses that provide public services, can separate themselves, or opt out of certain kinds of social obligations surrounding same-sex marriage.
If Gov. Bryant listened to the stories of Mississippians fired from jobs, refused service, and shunned from their families, then perhaps he might have a sense of why bills like HB 1523 devastate LGBT people and their families.
Companies like International Business Machines Corp and Herbalife International Inc used Twitter to criticize a North Carolina measure targeting transgender bathrooms and a MS “religious freedom” law allowing people to deny wedding services to gay couples. PayPal said it won’t open its facility in Charlotte which was expected to employ 400 people.
Governor Andrew Cuomo is banning all non-essential state-funded travel to MS, signing an executive order yesterday requiring all New York State agencies or departments to eliminate any publicly-funded travel there.
For example, standards in Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (which MS already has) can protect religious freedom through a balancing test that weighs substantial burdens on religion against compelling interests of the government, without regard to any particular law or religious practice.
The American Civil Liberties Union criticized the MS law, which is expected to take effect in July.
They express concern that Gov. Bryant’s new law “will make it far more challenging for businesses across the state to recruit and retain the nation’s best and brightest workers and attract the most talented students from across the country”, and will “diminish the state’s draw as a destination for tourism, new businesses, and economic activity”. Mr Deal was under a great deal of pressure from major USA companies like Coca-Cola, the National Football League and Disney, who threatened to pull business from the state over the law.
“I think if you read it, you understand it’s a religious freedoms bill”, said House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, the bill’s primary author.
Saying he was protecting religious freedom, Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed the bill Tuesday without hesitation or fanfare just hours after it cleared its final legislative obstacle Monday.
“As a predominantly black city in MS, the Jackson community has endured racism, discrimination and injustice over the years”.
The bill comes at a time when numerous U.S. states are passing or considering similar laws.
The company also said that while looking for another location for its operations center, it also will work with the LGBT community in North Carolina to overturn the legislation.
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“House Bill 1523 protects pastors, churches and individuals from having to solemnize a gay “wedding” and protects individuals and small businesses like florists, bakers and photographers from being forced to perform services at a gay “wedding” ceremony that violates their deeply held religious beliefs”, stated NOM.
