Federal judge blocks the rest of Mississippi's religious-exemption anti-LGBT law

Mississippi couple Wendy Torrington and Kimberly Moreno got married in New York City.

(Image credit: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)

published 1 July 2016

Late Thursday night, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves blocked a Mississippi law set to take effect Friday that would have carved out religious exemptions for people and businesses opposed to same-sex marriage, homosexuality, and transgender people. "The state has put its thumb on the scale to favor some religious beliefs over others," Reeves wrote, calling the bill "the state's attempt to put LGBT citizens back in their place" after the Supreme Court's ruling that same-sex couples have the right to get married. On Monday, Reeves had struck down the part of HB 1523 that would have let the state's circuit clerks refuse to issue same-sex marriage certificates due to religious objections. The law also sought to offer protection to businesses that refuse to serve LGBT people and would have affected adoption and foster care as well as bathroom policies at schools and businesses.

After he signed the law in April, Gov. Phil Bryant (R) told the Family Research Council that the "secular, progressive world had decided they were going to pour their anger and their frustration" at him because of the legislation. Reeves said that Mississippi was the entity acting out of frustration, stomping on religious freedoms in the process. "HB 1523 favors Southern Baptist over Unitarian doctrine, Catholic over Episcopalian doctrine, and Orthodox Judaism over Reform Judaism doctrine, to list just a few examples," he wrote. "In physics, every action has its equal and opposite reaction. In politics, every action has its predictable overreaction."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.