JACKSON, Miss.- With the extreme amount of controversy and national attention surrounding the Religious Liberties Accommodation Act, support and opposition are splitting Mississippi.
Rep. Andy Gipson who authored the bill recently produced information that the magnolia state is no the only one to have a law like this, in fact some of the states who have publicly criticized Mississippi have very similar laws.
Gipson particularly mention New York, who is working to ban city work travel to the state. New York has a similar law that was passed in 2011, shortly after the legalization of gay marriage.
The summed up version of the law states that,
“Any religious organization is not required to provide accommodations, advantages, facilities, or privileges related to the solemnization or celebration of marriage.”
If there is a refusal than those organizations are protected under the law where the person denied service could not file a civil claim.
However Mississippi College law professor Matt Steffey still disagrees with the ruling. He says that this law is a solution to a problem we don’t hate and all it is going to do is cost the state treasury tons of money in court fees when civil liberty groups sue for discrimination.
New York is one of nearly 20 states that practices under laws like this.
Gipson stands by the bill and the message that it is not intended to discriminate, only to protect the religious freedoms of individuals who are convicted that marriage is between a man and a woman.
