5th Circuit to hear Mississippi 'religious freedom' law challenge

[Heddi]

https://www.metroweekly.com/2017/03/5th-circuit-mississippi-religious-freedom-law-challenge/
Law would have granted people who subscribe to 3 specific religious beliefs carte blanche to discriminate against gays


Advocates fighting against a blocked Mississippi law that would have condoned widespread discrimination against LGBTQ people under the guise of “religious freedom” will get their day in court within the next week.

On Monday, April 3, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on HB 1523, Mississippi’s law that allows people with certain specific religious beliefs regarding homosexuality, transgenderism, and same-sex marriage to refuse goods or services to LGBTQ people. The judges hearing the case will be Judges Jennifer Walker Elrod, a George W. Bush appointee; Jerry Smith, a Reagan appointee; and Catherina Haynes another George W. Bush appointee.

U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves previously blocked the law from taking effect in July, ruling that its overly specific endorsement of three particular religious beliefs violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and that the law’s targeting of LGBTQ people for disparate treatment violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The three specific beliefs that HB 1523 endorses are 1) that marriage can only be between a man and a woman; 2) that sexual intercourse is properly reserved to such a marriage; and 3) that sex is an immutable characteristic that is assigned at birth and cannot change.

..
.“HB 1523 also prohibits the state from intervening to protect the best interests of gay or transgender children in the care of adults who may hold one or more of these religious beliefs. And HB 1523 not only allows private citizens to refuse to provide counseling and psychological treatment on the basis of the three specific religious beliefs in clear violation of professional ethical guidelines — it also permits state employees, including public school guidance counselors, to turn away students desperately in need of support.”

[Lordquinton]

1. More religious laws designed to kill

"good" Christians need to stop distancing themselves from this and accept the duality in the religion to fight it. This whole "they aren't real Christians" thing doesn't work, both sides claim that, and point to cherry-picked parts of the bike to back it up.