Mississippi's anti-gay 'religious freedom' law takes effect

By: James Mills
10 Oct 17

https://shrtm.nu/75wc

The law is intended to protect individuals who have religious beliefs, but goes so far as to allow public employees, service providers and business owners to cite personal religious beliefs to justify discriminating against LGBTI people.
HB 1523 spells out three specific religious beliefs to be protected above all others.

First, marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

Second, sexual relations are 'properly confined' to such a marriage.

Third, sex is an innate characteristic that is assigned at birth and cannot change.
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MAGA

Mississippi is an inbred manure hole.


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The few years in which I lived in Mississippi were a total nightmare, and I have never had any inkling to go back for any reason. Can we build a border wall around it?

While I think this thread is going to end up locked or in the trash, one observation.

Quote from: Deborah on October 14, 2017, 09:15:04 AM
Second, sexual relations are 'properly confined' to such a marriage.

Anybody notice this applies to every teen who made out in the back seat of their car or in their parents house while their parents were away? It also applies to about half the politicians who seem to have difficulty keeping their pants up when their wife isn't around. The arrests as the result of this law could be interesting to say the least.

Quote from: Dena on October 14, 2017, 07:05:24 PM
While I think this thread is going to end up locked or in the trash, one observation.

Anybody notice this applies to every teen who made out in the back seat of their car or in their parents house while their parents were away? It also applies to about half the politicians who seem to have difficulty keeping their pants up when their wife isn't around. The arrests as the result of this law could be interesting to say the least.

But as the Southern Baptist woman said in the video I posted last week, LBGT is a different kind of sin than the rest.  We should be refused service and accommodation.  The rest, such as the adulterers, should not.


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Unfortunately, I believe this is only the beginning.  And as the court vacancies get filled, we will run out of any recourse.  Difficult times ahead for sure.

Quote from: JillianC on October 14, 2017, 07:35:23 PM
Unfortunately, I believe this is only the beginning.  And as the court vacancies get filled, we will run out of any recourse.  Difficult times ahead for sure.

Not necessarily. A constitutionalist judge would find there is nothing in the constitution that give the government the power to pass/enforce such a law. That doesn't always happen as the courts have made some wrong calls over the years because of social engineering but we can only hope the judges are constitutionalist.

Politicians pick judges. If the politicians have an axe to grind with someone they're going to pick someone grinding the same axe. Don't count on strict constitutionalists anyway, even they interpret the Constitution.

:

April 22, 2015, the day of my first face to face pass in gender neutral clothes and no makeup. It may be months to the next one, but I'm good with that!

Being transgender is just a phase. It hardly ever starts before conception and always ends promptly at death.

They say the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train. I say, climb aboard!

Think outside the voice box!

Maybe in the past you could count on judges being non-partisan but it is my opinion that those times are gone.   The judges being chosen to fill these vacancies will vote over whelmingly along party lines.

Stephaniec recently posted a link to this article:
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/10/09/trump-is-enlisting-anti-lgbt-and-anti-abortion-judges-to-vote-on-the-nations-laws/

Here's what it says about some of the picks:

Quote
Trump is enlisting anti-LGBT+ and anti-abortion judges to vote on the nation's laws

    Steph Kyriacou
    9th October 2017, 6:09 PM

President Donald Trump is packing American courts with anti-LGBT and anti-abortion judges – and he's choosing more than any of his three predecessors.

10 months into his presidency, Trump has nominated more Senate judges than President Barack Obama, President George W. Bush or President Bill Clinton.

And looking at the views held by these judges, it seems as though there will be a far more conservative group of people now helping to shape US laws.

Carl Tobia, a University of Richmond law professor who specialises in judicial nominations, told HuffPost: "Trump's speed in nominating judges has been perhaps the most successful aspect of his presidency.

"Trump has easily surpassed Obama, Bush and Clinton at this point in the first year of their presidencies in terms of the sheer number nominated."

Trump also has more court seats to fill, due to inheriting 108 court vacancies after winning the presidential race.

This is thought to be due to the Republican's lengthy strategy aimed at keeping the seats empty for a future GOP president to fill by denying votes to Obama's court picks.

Considering the way things are looking now, this strategy seems to have worked.
(Getty)

An example of those being nominated by Trump is John Bush, for the US Court of Appeals' 6th Circuit.

Confirmed by the Senate in July, he has joked about "->-bleeped-<-gots," mocked same-sex parents and criticised the Kentucky Supreme Court for making consensual gay sex immune from criminal prosecution.

Bush has compared abortion to slavery, referring to them as "the two greatest tragedies in our country."

He has also strongly disagreed with same-sex marriage, ridiculed the idea of climate change, and claimed that "the witch is dead" when it was thought that the Affordable Care Act – which provides healthcare to millions – may not be put into effect.

Another judge confirmed by the Senate was 58-year-old Ralph Erickson, who was confirmed for the US Court for the 8th Circuit.

Erickson was one of two judges in America to order the federal government not to enforce healthcare non-discrimination protections for transgender people.

Other nominees include Leonard Grasz, who proposed an amendment to the Omaha City Charter in 2013 that would allow employers to discriminate against LGBT+ people.

Grasz also compared the civil rights of Native Americans and African-Americans to the "personhood" of fetuses, according to a report released by the Alliance for Justice.

Trump has also nominated 37-year-old attorney Damien Shiff, who has previously criticised efforts made to prevent LGBT+ students from being bullied, labelling the promotion of equality as "teaching 'gayness' in schools."

The Alliance for Justice report also showed Shiff arguing that states should be allowed to criminalise "consensual sodomy."

It has been said that the White House is not reviewing nominee's records as thoroughly as prior administrations did, which will supposedly lead to more controversial nominees.

Do those people sound as though they're going to support the constitution in these matters?

Trump is stacking the courts with people who are clearly opposed to the LGBQT community.  I wouldn't bet on them protecting our rights.

This is why the 2018 elections matter.


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That maybe true, however sometimes this backfires. Example Earl Warren. He wasn't what those put him on the court expected and the result was one of the most influential judges in court history.

Quote from: Dee Marshall on October 14, 2017, 10:07:38 PM
Politicians pick judges. If the politicians have an axe to grind with someone they're going to pick someone grinding the same axe. Don't count on strict constitutionalists anyway, even they interpret the Constitution.

:

April 22, 2015, the day of my first face to face pass in gender neutral clothes and no makeup. It may be months to the next one, but I'm good with that!

Being transgender is just a phase. It hardly ever starts before conception and always ends promptly at death.

They say the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train. I say, climb aboard!

Think outside the voice box!