Religious Liberty Accommodations Act

Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act.
Mississippi Legislature
An Act To Create The "protecting Freedom Of Conscience From Government Discrimination Act"; To Provide Certain Protections Regarding A Sincerely Held Religious Belief Or Moral Conviction For Persons, Religious Organizations And Private Associations; To Define A Discriminatory Action For Purposes Of This Act; To Provide That A Person May Assert A Violation Of This Act As A Claim Against The Government; To Provide Certain Remedies; To Require A Person Bringing A Claim Under This Act To Do So Not Later Than Two Years After The Discriminatory Action Was Taken; To Provide Certain Definitions; And For Related Purposes.
Citation	H.B. 1523
Enacted by	Mississippi House of Representatives
Date passed	February 19, 2016
Enacted by	Mississippi State Senate
Date passed	March 30, 2016
Date signed	April 5, 2016
Signed by	Governor Phil Bryant
Date effective	July 1, 2016; enjoined
Introduced by	Speaker Philip Gunn
Related legislation
Mississippi Student Religious Liberties Act of 2013; Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Status: Not yet in force

The Religious Liberty Accommodations Act, also called the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act or House Bill 1523, is a 2016 Mississippi law that protects the following beliefs: Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage, and male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.^[1]

It also states that the state government of Mississippi shall not take any discriminatory action against a religious organization when it comes to issuing marriages, employment (including state employees), sale, rental, housing, adoption, declines to participate in sex reassignment surgery, conversion therapy, or services that accommodate or facilitates marriages "based upon or in a manner consistent with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction."^[1]

This legislation was to into effect from July 1, 2016, however on June 30 U.S. District Court Judge Carlton W. Reeves issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law. Three days before he had issued a permanent injunction requiring government officials to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples regardless of the officials' religious beliefs.^[2]

Background

On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples is unconstitutional, thus legalizing same-sex marriage in Mississippi.^[3]

On 31 March 2016, U.S. District Judge Daniel Porter Jordan III issued a preliminary injunction striking down Mississippi's ban on adoption rights for same-sex couples, declaring it unconstitutional.^[4][5]

Legislative history

Representatives Philip Gunn, William Tracy Arnold, C. Scott Bounds, Lester Carpenter, J. Andrew Gipson, William Shirley, Randy Boyd, and Dan Eubanks officially introduced House Bill 1523, titled "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act".^[1]

On February 19, 2016, the Mississippi House of Representatives passed the bill, with 80 ayes, 39 nays, and 3 absent or not voting.^[6]

On March 30, 2016, the Mississippi Senate passed an amended bill, with a 32 ayes, 17 nays, and 1 absent or not voting.^[7]

On April 1, 2016, the Mississippi House of Representatives passed the bill as amended by the Senate, with 69 ayes, 44 nays, 7 absent or not voting, and 1 voted present.^[8]

On April 5, 2016, Governor Phil Bryant signed the bill.^[1] The bill went into effect on July 1, 2016.^[1]

On April 12, 2016, a suspension resolution, titled the Mississippi Economic and Tourism Recovery Act, aiming at repealing HB 1523 was introduced in the Mississippi Legislature.^[9][10]

Response

On April 5, 2016, the Human Rights Campaign lambasted Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant for signing into law H.B. 1523, the Religious Liberty Accommodations Act.^[11]

Local government

On April 6, 2016, the Jackson City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing HB 1523. The resolution states that Jackson acknowledges the United States Constitution, which prohibits governments from respecting an establishment of religion and protects all people equally under the law. Mayor Tony Yarber also released his own statement: "As a predominantly black city in Mississippi, the Jackson community has endured racism, discrimination and injustice over the years. We are Mississippi’s capital city, and as part of our declaration of being the ‘Bold New City,’ we will not discriminate against any individual because of race, religious beliefs or sexual orientation, nor do we support legislation that allows for such discrimination."^[12]

Travel bans

States and municipalities banning publicly-funded travel to Mississippi

  Publicly-funded travel banned by state government

  Publicly-funded travel banned by city and state government

  Publicly-funded travel banned by county government

  Publicly-funded travel banned by city and county government

  Publicly-funded travel banned by city government

As of December 2, 2016, the states of California,^[13] Connecticut,^[14] Minnesota,^[15] New York,^[16] Vermont,^[16] and Washington,^[17] the District of Columbia,^[18][19] the counties of Dane (Wisconsin),^[20] Franklin (Ohio),^[21] Montgomery (Maryland),^[22] and Multnomah (Oregon),^[23] and the cities of Baltimore,^[24] Berkeley,^[25] Cincinnati,^[26] Dayton,^[27] Honolulu,^[28] Long Beach,^[29] Los Angeles,^[30] Miami Beach,^[31] New York City,^[32] Oakland,^[33] Philadelphia,^[18] Portland (Maine),^[34] Portland (Oregon),^[35] Providence,^[36] Salt Lake City,^[37] San Francisco,^[38] San Jose,^[39] Santa Fe,^[40] Seattle,^[17] Tampa,^[18] West Palm Beach,^[41] and Wilton Manors^[42] have issued travel bans in response to HB 1523, barring government employees from non-essential publicly-funded travel to Mississippi, in a similar way to North Carolina.^[43]

International

In April 2016, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued a warning to LGBT travellers to North Carolina and Mississippi.^[44][45] The Human Rights Campaign responded that it was "both frightening and embarrassing that one of our nation's staunchest allies has warned its citizens of the risks."

On May 12, 2016, the European Union released a statement condemning the Religious Liberty Accommodations Act in Mississippi and the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act in North Carolina.^[46][47]

Barber v. Bryant

Plaintiffs represented by Roberta A. Kaplan sued in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.^[48] On June 27, 2016, U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves entered a permanent injunction blocking HB 1523’s provision allowing county clerks to recuse themselves from issuing marriage licenses.^[49] On June 30, 2016, hours before the law was to come into force, Judge Reeves issued a preliminary injunction blocking the rest of HB 1523.^[50] In a sixty page opinion finding that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution, Judge Reeves notes HB 1523 singles out Leviticus 18 while ignoring Leviticus’s other prohibitions, such as mixing wool and linens.^[50] Judge Reeves further compares Governor Bryant’s opposition to the Obergefell v. Hodges decision to Governor James P. Coleman’s opposition to the Brown v. Board of Education decision.^[50]

On July 13, 2016, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood announced his office would not pursue an appeal of Judge Reeves' ruling. In a statement, Hood said, "... all HB 1523 has done is tarnish Mississippi’s image while distracting us from the more pressing issues of decaying roads and bridges, underfunding of public education, the plight of the mentally ill and the need to solve our state's financial mess." ^[51] Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant has retained the services of a private attorney, Drew Snyder, to continue the appeal in Federal court using private funds. ^[52]

See also

• LGBT rights in Mississippi

References

External links

• Text of the law
• Campaign for Southern Equality v. Bryant, No. 3:14-CV-818 (S.D. Miss. June 27, 2016) court order blocking marriage license provision
• Barber v. Bryant, No. 3:16-CV-442 (S.D. Miss. June 30, 2016) court order blocking all of HB 1523