Mississippi: making the state better for bigots, one minority at a time!
We were cautiously optimistic that the days of anti-LGBT laws were behind us now that we’ve successfully navigated our way through Indiana, Arkansas, and Georgia… but we were wrong.
That’s because the Mississippi Senate passed House Bill 1523 on Thursday that serves as another religious freedom act to protect businesses and organizations from having to provide service to same-sex couples and transgender people.
Related: North Carolina Attorney General Won’t Defend Anti-Gay Law
In fact, this specific bill is so intolerant, Ben Needham, director of LGBT advocacy group Project One America with the Human Rights Campaign, condemned the law, saying it’s “probably the worst religious freedom bill to date.”
Lovely.
But that’s not even the best part — Rep. Sen. Jenifer Branning actually had the gall to tell her colleagues that the bill wasn’t intruding on queer individuals’ rights, saying:
“It gives protection to those in the state who cannot in a good conscience provide services for a same-sex marriage. I don’t think this bill is discriminatory — It takes no rights away from anyone.”
People elected this woman to office? Did they think they were voting for class clown or something??
Seriously — trying to pass this off as “religious freedom” and not just blatant bigotry is one thing, but how can anyone with a brain sit there and try to act like it’s not discriminatory?
It’s insulting.
Have fun on the wrong side of history, Mississippi government!
[Image via Jenifer Branning/Instagram.]
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