The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken up a case on behalf of a gay couple who are suing their home state of Mississippi over the recent passage of an anti-gay "religious liberty" law.
House Bill 1523 , passed by the Republican-majority Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Phil Bryant, is set to become law July 1. [...]
The parties are asking a federal judge to declare that House Bill 1523 violates the equal-protection guarantee of the 14th Amendment and to issue an injunction blocking the state from enforcing the law.
As we covered here several weeks ago, Mississippi's law goes further than similar laws in other states. The Mississippi law applies to both public and private businesses and was written so broadly and vaguely that it could be enable discrimination against unwed straight couples, not just gay couples. The bill states that any employee, public or private, cannot be punished for believing that "sexual relations are properly reserved" to marriage between a man and a woman.
This is just my interpretation, but it appears to me that lawmakers tried so hard not to name a specific target they inadvertently enabled discrimination against almost anyone.
When he signed the law, Governor Phil Bryant claimed that it will "prevent government interference" in private lives which, if you're keep tracking, clearly shows that words have no meaning.