Mississippi - Bibles & Wedding Cakes

There has been some recent political contention in Mississippi and, surprisingly, it doesn't involve Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Instead, we're seeing a bare-knuckle throwdown between religious freedom and the rights of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community.

No matter which side your on, things can get a bit complicated. So, let me try to break it down.

Last week, Governor Phil Bryant signed a controversial "religious freedom" bill (House Bill 1523) into law. The new law essentially gives business owners the right to refuse service to individuals, based on religious opposition to gay marriage, transgender people and extramarital sex. Leaving the latter two behind for now, let's focus on gay marriage. This, in itself, is a double edged sword. While many people may legitimately oppose it on religious principles, the fact of the matter is that same-sex marriage is now a legal right in the United States.

We've all heard the "gay wedding cake" scenario, but where do you draw the line? If a gay couple walks into a Mississippi hardware store to buy some painting supplies, can the cashier simply point to his bible and refuse to serve them?

According to the way I understand it, the law only applies to "wedding-related" services. But couldn't this present a certain "vagueness" that could leave the door open for selective discrimination?

Additionally, the new law gives state employees the right to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples.  However, the service must provided by another employee. Hmm....that sure sounds like a snafu in the making. For instance, let's say all of the employees at this particular location are part of the same bible study group. Who will issue the marriage license then? Do they draw straws? Is there a person on call for this? I can see the gay couple standing there saying, "WTF" as the state employees thump their bibles and shrug their shoulders. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but just wait.

The controversial law has also drawn the ire of celebrities such as Bryan Adams. The Canadian pop star recently announced that he was cancelling a scheduled concert in Mississippi in protest of the new state law. Hmm, if he's so supportive of gay rights, I wonder why he performed concerts in places like Oman, Qatar and Syria a few years ago? Last time I checked, those countries took discrimination, especially against homosexuals, to a whole new level. I don't know, maybe Bryan didn't get the memo?

Not surprising, the gay community sees Mississippi's latest law as state-sanctioned discrimination. But ironically, the official name of House Bill 1523 is the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act. So, in effect, it's the supporters of the bill who were originally claiming discrimination. And when you throw in the First Amendment and that whole "freedom of religion" thing, it adds a bit of credibility to their argument. Are you scratching your head yet? See, I told you it could get complicated...

You can go back and forth on this all day. And there are other parts of the bill that I didn't even talk about. There are also other states such as North Carolina that are currently debating similar laws. If I have an abundance of mental energy, perhaps I'll talk about the controversial "bathroom bill" in a future post. Stay tuned...


kw