Mississippi bill: OK to refuse services, licenses related to same-sex marriages – LGBTQ Nation

State officials, private business owners and others who provide services to the public couldn’t be punished for acting on religious beliefs that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, under a bill advancing in the Mississippi Legislature.

Representatives on Friday voted 80-39 to pass House Bill 1523, which also specifies people couldn’t be punished for acting on beliefs that only married couples should have sexual relations and that a person’s gender identity is set at birth.

The bill was held for the possibility of more debate before it goes to the Senate.

Rep. Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, an attorney and Baptist minister, said the bill wouldn’t undo last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide but would balance that decision with people’s First Amendment right to act on their own beliefs.

Mississippi bill: OK to refuse services, licenses related to same-sex marriages – LGBTQ Nation