Business window stickers protest Mississippi religious law

[rug]

Eddie Outlaw, a Jackson hair salon owner, displays the stickers he and some other business owners display and have distributed to others in a show of support for gay and lesbian customers, Tuesday, April 22, 2014, outside his business in Jackson, Miss. The group sees this as an effort to push back against a religious-practices bill recently signed by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant. The round, blue window stickers declare: “We don’t discriminate. If you’re buying, we’re selling." (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

By The Associated Press
on April 25, 2014 at 7:25 AM

In conservative Mississippi, some business owners who support equal treatment for gays and lesbians are pushing back against a new law that bans government from limiting the free practice of religion. Critics fear the vaguely written law, which takes effect July 1, will prompt authorities to look away from anti-gay actions that are carried out in the name of religious beliefs -- for example, photographers refusing to take pictures for same-sex couples because they believe homosexuality is a sin.

Hundreds of businesses, from hair salons to bakeries and art galleries, have started displaying round blue window stickers that declare: "We don't discriminate. If you're buying, we're selling."

The sticker campaign started this month in response to Republican Gov. Phil Bryant's signing the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The law says government cannot put a substantial burden on religious practices, without a compelling reason. While it does not specifically mention gays or lesbians, "People are going to take it as permission, if you will, to discriminate against people they don't necessarily agree with or like," said Jackson hair salon owner Eddie Outlaw, 42, who went out of state to marry his husband.

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2014/04/business_window_stickers_prote.html

[longship]

1. That's just the kind of push back that could make a difference.

That, plus a certain amount of shaming.

Happy to R&K this.

[cbayer]

2. I second that!

[Jim Lane]

3. If I lived in Mississippi, I'd certainly be looking for that sticker when choosing vendors.

I'm sure there are some of us straights in Mississippi who'll do so. The question is whether they'll be outnumbered by the bigots who choose to avoid the nondiscriminating businesses.

The good news for those businesses is that, whatever the ratio is now, it's likely to move in their direction as time goes by.

[cbayer]

4. I would make a point of looking for it as well.

And I agree that things will move in that direction, even in Mississippi (a state I love).