Two days before Christmas, 70 groups and individuals were included in motions filed in federal court offering additional reasons why House Bill 1523, a law Gov. Phil Bryant has chosen to defend, should be struck down. HB 1523, or the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act," legalizes discrimination against the LGBTQ community, opponents of the law claim.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is gearing up to hear arguments on HB 1523 after U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves ruled the law unconstitutional in June. On Dec. 23, various attorneys filed six amicus briefs in the appellant court representing a total of 70 people or groups with a strong interest in the case.

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One of those, filed by Los Angeles-based attorney Justine Daniels, included local businesses like Molpus Woodlands Group, Belhaven Residential LLC, Ocean Springs Seafood Market Inc., Pritchett Engineering & Planning LLC,The ‘Sip Magazine LLC, Two Rivers Realty LLC, David Neil McCarty Law Firm PLLC, First Natchez Radio Group Inc. and Front Porch Fodder Publishing LLC as well as larger entities like Bloomberg L.P., International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), American International Group Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., and CVS Health Corp. Local firm Carson Law Group PLLC was also listed as counsel for these groups, which are described in this case by the legal term "amicus curiae."

"Most — if not all of the Amici — employ and/or serve lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (“LGBT”) persons or other citizens targeted by House Bill 1523 (“H.B. 1523”). And all the Amici agree that H.B. 1523 propagates — indeed legalizes — discrimination, undermining the public’s interest in equality and acceptance," it stated.

Another brief, filed by local attorney Michael J. Bentley, demonstrated opposition to HB 1523 from Sanderson Farms Inc., headquartered in Laurel, Jackson law firm Sharpe & Wise and Mississippi business people Jack Reed Jr., president of R. W. Reed Co., John Palmer Sr., founder of GulfSouth Capital Inc., retired farmer William Percy III, Tim Medley of Medley & Brown and Talamieka Brice of Brice Media LLC. It also included same-sex couples Kelly Kyle and Hal Caudell, an attorney and a Nissan contract manager, and Amber and Jessica Kirkendoll.

"The law has no legitimate secular purpose, and whatever purpose the state might think up now is a sham for the Legislature’s religiously motivated decision to confer favored status on one set of Christian beliefs about marriage and gender roles," Bentley wrote.

On Dec. 22, Los Angeles-based attorney Andrew Lundberg filed a similar motion on behalf of more than 80 national scholars who study LGBTQ populations and issues. In Mississippi, 3.3 percent of adults self-identify as LGBT, 13,650 of which identify as transgender, Lundberg wrote in his motion. And LGBTQ Mississippians are raising thousands of children. "A much higher percentage of LGBT people are raising children in Mississippi, compared to the nation as a whole," Lundberg wrote.

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"Research demonstrates that LGBT Mississippians and their families are vulnerable socio-economically and many are subject to discrimination in employment, housing and other important aspects of their lives. HB 1523, by elevating anti-LGBT religious beliefs over others, demeans and disadvantages LGBT people in the state. The Court should affirm the District Court’s ruling," the motion states.

The original group of plaintiffs challenging the law — more than a dozen Mississippi ministers, community leaders, civic activists and a Hattiesburg church — asked the appeals court to allow Reeves' decision banning the law from taking effect to stand earlier this month.

Reeves ruled HB 1523 unconstitutional just minutes before it was set to begin July 1, writing that the law "violates both the guarantee of religious neutrality and the promise of equal protection of the laws."

Though Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood declined to appeal the decision on behalf of the state, Bryant hired private attorneys, including some working for Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal group that helped write HB 1523, to ask that the court uphold the law he signed in April.

Bryant argues HB 1523 "gives the opponents of same-sex marriage the same conscientious-objector protections that federal law confers on the opponents of warfare, abortion, capital punishment and physician-assisted suicide."

Contact Anna Wolfe at 601-961-7326 or awolfe@gannett.com. Follow @ayewolfe on Twitter.