by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

The US Supreme Court said on January 8 that it will not hear a case challenging Mississippi's 'religious exemption' law.

Two separate appeals had been sent to the high court from Mississippi residents and LGBT rights organizations claiming that the state law violated the equal protection and establishment of religion clauses of the US Constitution.

The law, known as HB 1523, authorizes a broad range of individuals, private businesses, and medical and social service agencies to discriminate based on religious beliefs about marriage, nonmarital sexual relationships, and conformity with gender stereotypes.

The measure says people who claim to be motivated by their religious convictions can't be sued or penalized by the government for declining to provide services for same-sex marriage ceremonies. The law also protects people who believe gender is an immutable characteristic or who object to sex out of wedlock.

The measure also repealed civil rights protections that cities, including Jackson, the state's capital and most populous city, had previously afforded to Gay and Transgender residents.

Two groups of plaintiffs, including the Mississippi Center for Justice, filed a suit to stop it, with Lambda Legal also joining their legal team.

'The 11 individuals and church that are plaintiffs in Barber v. Bryant comprise a broad cross-section of Mississippians harmed by HB 1523 - leaders of faith congregations in the state, LGBT residents, and others impacted by the discriminatory law in their professional and personal lives,' Lambda Legal explained. 'The lawsuit claims HB 1523 violates the Establishment and Equal Protection Clauses of the US Constitution.

On June 30, 2016, before the law took effect, a federal judge declared it unconstitutional and enjoined it from going into effect while the case proceeded.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals later reversed that decision, on the grounds that the plaintiffs could not show they were directly harmed by the law and therefore did not have standing to sue. The appeals court ruling will stand since the high court declined to hear the case.

While the Supreme Court has declined to hear a number of cases involving LGBT rights, it has agreed to hear the appeal of a Colorado baker who was fined for violating his state's anti-discrimination laws when he refused to supply a wedding cake for a Gay couple.

According to Bloomberg News, the Mississippi case 'in some ways represented the flip side of the Colorado case the high court is currently considering...'

While Colorado law requires businesses to afford equal treatment even though the Denver-area baker says he has a religious objection to same-sex marriage, the Mississippi law, by contrast, gives priority to religious rights.

Mississippi enacted HB 1523 less than a year after the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

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