JACKSON, MS - Liberty Counsel commends Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant for signing HB 1523, also known as the Religious Liberty Accommodations Act, into law this week.
The Act was overwhelmingly passed by the Mississippi Senate and House and protects natural persons, pastors, and closely held corporations from discrimination by the state or state agencies, due to sincerely held religious beliefs or convictions, where those convictions are that (a) marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman; (b) sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage; or (c) whether male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth. The bill includes marriage-related industries, adoptions and adoption agencies, churches and pastors, businesses with private facilities like restrooms and lockers, employers' grooming standards, expressive activity of state employees and permits clerks and others to recuse themselves from performing marriages or issuing licenses for unions contrary to the grounds above, protecting the right of conscience.
"The Religious Liberty Accommodations Act is a victory toward protecting the constitutional rights of pastors and religious organizations," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "I commend Governor Bryant for signing this bill as a means to further protect the religious freedoms of all people," Staver said.
