Jimmie E. Gates

Clarion Ledger

A clerk or other individuals could deny a marriage license to a gay couple without facing any state penalty under a bill passed Friday in the House that supports the belief in the union of a man and woman

The House voted 80-39 to pass House Bill 1523, which originally was called the Religious Liberty Accommodations Act. The name was changed in committee to the Protecting Freedom of Conscience From Government Discrimination Act.

The bill either will prohibit discrimination against anyone who holds the belief that marriage should be between a man and woman, or it will allow discrimination against gay and transgender people, according to varoius arguments Friday on the House floor that resulted in a vote mostly along party lines with Republicans voting for the bill and Democrats voting against it.

House Judiciary B Chairman Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, said the bill protects anyone who believes marriage is between a man and woman from any form of discrimination.

The Act says:

Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman.

Sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.

Male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.

Gipson said the bill applies to individuals, churches, pastors, faith-based schools and others.

"This isn't a bill founded in religion; it is a bill founded in ignorance. This is an anti-human being legislation," said state Rep. Ed Blackmon, D-Canton.

Blackmon, who said supporters of the bill were using religion in the name of God to discriminate, likened it to the argument in support of segregation in the 1950s and 60s.

However Gipson said the aim of the bill is to protect the First Amendment rights of people to uphold their religious beliefs. It would provide state immunity to clerks and others who refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because of religious belief.

State Rep. Charles Young, D-Meridian, said a concern is that if the legislation passes and become law, it will tell certain people they don't have to comply with federal law.

However, freshman state Rep. Dan Eubanks, R-Walls, argued he has a fundamental right to his beliefs. "It protects my rights; it protects your rights," he said of House Bill 1523.

The bill, filed by House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, is in response to a county clerk in Kentucky being jailed for five days last year for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

State Rep. Adrienne Wooten, D-Jackson, a member of the Judiciary A Committee, voted against the bill. Wooten said it would give people the right to discriminate against those who don't share the belief that a marriage is between a man and a woman..

"I think you're wrong," Gipson said to Wooten. "This bill is just to protect against discrimination for people who have the belief that marriage is the union of a man and a woman."

Wooten said the Legislature has no business making such laws. "We have no nothing to do with how someone chooses to live their life," she said.

The Human Rights Campaign Mississippi, decried the decision by Mississippi lawmakers to move forward with H.B. 1523 and said the legislation would allow individuals, religious organizations and private associations to use religion to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Mississippians, in some of the most important aspect of their lives, including at work, at school, in their family life and more.

“Quite simply, this bill is not about religion; it is about discrimination,” said HRC Mississippi state director and former United Methodist pastor Rob Hill.

The bill now goes to the state Senate.

Contact Jimmie E. Gates at (601) 961-7212 or jgates@jackson.gannett.com. Follow@jgatesnews on Twitter.