Mississippi Gov. Bryant signed HB 1523, authorizing religion-based denial of service to LGBT people

On April 5, 2016, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed HB 1523, the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act," after it passed the Mississippi Legislature and was approved by the governor that day, per the legislature's official bill history. The law authorizes state employees, private businesses, religious organizations, and medical, counseling, adoption, and foster-care providers -- including those receiving state funds -- to deny services based on three specified religious or moral beliefs: that marriage is between one man and one woman, that sexual relations should be reserved for such a marriage, and that "male" and "female" refer to sex as determined by anatomy and genetics at birth.

In practice the law shields government clerks who refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples and permits a wide range of businesses, employers, and providers to deny services to LGBT people and to unmarried people engaged in sex outside marriage. Bryant said in a public statement that he signed the bill "to protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions ... from discriminatory action by state government." LGBT-rights groups, including Lambda Legal and the Mississippi Center for Justice, sued to block the law before it took effect.

Updates

2016-06-30 — Federal judge enjoined HB 1523 before it took effect [4, 5]

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves ruled that HB 1523 violated the Establishment and Equal Protection Clauses and blocked it hours before its scheduled July 1, 2016 effective date, calling it "state-sanctioned discrimination."

2017-06-22 — Fifth Circuit reversed injunction on standing grounds [6]

A Fifth Circuit panel held the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the law under the Establishment Clause and vacated the injunction; the full court denied rehearing en banc that September, clearing the way for the law to take effect on October 9, 2017 [3, 9].

2018-01-08 — U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari [7, 8]

The Supreme Court declined to hear the plaintiffs' appeal, leaving the Fifth Circuit's standing-based dismissal in place and the law in effect without a ruling on its constitutional merits.