This is America for LGBTQ people in Mississippi: the law singles out three religious beliefs for special protection: that marriage means 1 man & 1 woman, that sexual relations should only happen inside such a marriage, & that gender is “immutable” & corresponds to sex at birth.
In MS, a person, an organization, or a corporation may refuse to serve a same-sex couple marriage celebration at your for-profit hotel or restaurant, refuse lodging at your hotel, or refuse to provide any marriage-related services if you hold one of those beliefs. 2/
In MS, "marriage-related services" relate to “photography, poetry, videography, DJ services, wedding planning, printing, publishing or similar marriage-related goods or services" 3/
As well as "floral arrangements, dress making, cake or pastry artistry, assembly-hall or other wedding-venue rentals, limousine or other car-service rentals, jewelry sales and services, or similar marriage-related services, accommodations, facilities or goods.” 4/
Beyond weddings and cakes, there are dangerous implications for a "religious freedoms" law, which extend into health care, shelter, and employment. 5/
In MS, if you’re a doctor or hospital with 1 of those 3 beliefs (yes, by law hospitals have religious beliefs too), then you can deny counseling or “fertility services” to LGBTQ people or the child of a same-sex couple. 6/
In MS, doctors & hospitals can also deny a trans person any kind of gender-related medical care. 7/
In MS, employees at a religious organization can fire any employee for being gay, trans, or pro-gay, or for just being perceived to be these things, even if they have roles at work that have nothing to do with religion or education. 8/
In MS, landlords & agencies can refuse to rent an apartment or any other property to LGBTQ people. 9/
To be fair, landlords & agencies can also refuse to rent to an unmarried straight couple who they think might be having sex. You know the rule, "No D before I Do." 10/
In MS, state employees can refuse to serve LGBTQ people, argue in public that gay people should be killed or are going to hell, and plaster their cubicle with anti-gay propaganda - the state cannot fire them. 11/
Mississippi state housing agencies can discriminate against LGBTQ people without repercussion. 12/
In MS, schools, businesses, & other organizations can force trans people to dress wearing clothes for their sex assigned at birth & restrict trans people's access to any “intimate facilities or settings” including bathrooms. 12/
State-funded adoption agencies in Mississippi can refuse to place children with LGBTQ parents, and cannot refuse to place LGBTQ children with anti-gay parents.
Read that last part one more time.
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Read that last part one more time.
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Mississippi is an example of a state which has legalized discrimination against LGBTQ people. While many other attempts at similiar bills have died in process, we can be sure they will continue to pop up. It is ESSENTIAL that folks get to the polls in midterms. 14/
Keep fighting. 15/15
