Dispatches: US Court Rejects Religion as a Basis for Discrimination

Just minutes before it was set to take effect today, a federal judge blocked a Mississippi law permitting those with religious beliefs to discriminate against LGBT people – and the decision is good news for anyone at risk of unequal treatment.

In April, Mississippi enacted a law protecting those who act in accordance with three specific religious beliefs or moral convictions: (1) marriage is a union between a man and woman, (2) sex should only occur in marriage, and (3) “male” and “female” refer to one’s immutable biological sex determined at birth. It allowed individuals and organizations in the state to refuse services, accommodations, employment, housing, and adoption and foster care services to LGBT and unmarried people on the basis of those beliefs or convictions.

The law was scheduled to take effect today, but shortly before midnight, a federal judge issued a ruling blocking the law in its entirety. The judge determined the law impermissibly advanced religion by promoting a particular set of religious beliefs and compromised the equal protection of the laws by singling out LGBT and unmarried people to deprive them of the rights and privileges that other citizens enjoy.

The ruling is a victory for LGBT communities in Mississippi and beyond. This was one of more than 200 bills that lawmakers in the United States have introduced this year to limit the rights of LGBT people, and one of only a small handful that passed. The ruling supports the claims of advocates challenging North Carolina’s law overturning protections against discrimination and limiting access to public places, including restrooms, for LGBT people and Tennessee’s law allowing therapists and counselors to refuse to treat LGBT clients.

Yet the ruling is also a victory for the rule of law more broadly. It offers a timely reminder that religion should not be used as a justification to deny LGBT people and other minority groups the rights enjoyed by the general public. As lawmakers across the US invoke religion to chip away at non-discrimination laws and federally recognized rights to abortion, contraception, and marriage, that reminder is timely and important.