Transgender rights targeted in twice as many bills this year versus 2015 – report | World news | The Guardian

State lawmakers have introduced twice as many bills targeting transgender rights since the start of the 2016 legislative session as in all of 2015, according to a new report from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

HRC has identified 44 anti-transgender bills, in 16 states, out of more than 175 pieces of legislation that attempt to curtail lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. Of those 44 bills, 23 are aimed at transgender children, with most proposing to bar transgender students from using girls’ or boys’ locker rooms and bathrooms or from participating in men’s and women’s sports teams if not assigned that gender at birth.

Other proposals would allow individuals and organizations to discriminate against transgender people for religious reasons.

“This deeply disturbing trend is a stark reminder of just how vicious and deplorable opponents of equality are in their relentless attacks against our community,” Chad Griffin, president of HRC, said in a statement.
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The fight for transgender rights has attracted unprecedented visibility. A growing number of courts and federal agencies have recognized that laws passed to protect women from gender bias also protect the rights of transgender people.

Transgender rights targeted in twice as many bills this year versus 2015 – report | World news | The Guardian

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

ADDENDUM::Georgia Senate backs exemptions for gay marriage objectors – LGBTQ Nation

Please note that I am well aware that the issues in Georgia have exploded in the past week to 10 days.  While "this" may be old news for those that are aware and have been following said issue, some may be uninformed.  I am also seeking to present some sort of time line for what has occurred as not only does it present national issues but international as well in regards to business and travel.

One point that needs to be kept in mind while looking at Georgia and other states (Indiana comes to mind), this IS a direct result of Hobby Lobby.

When one looks at the decision rendered by SCOTUS it has to be through the lens of the Reich's overall agenda -  starting with a "reformed" interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause or an outright repeal of the First Amendment,  continuing with the abolition of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending with the implementation of dominionist ideology in order to govern by theocratic control.  With the ruling in Hobby Lobby, the Reich will "now" be able to exempt themselves from any laws that they don’t like; that they find “religiously objectionable.” 

This is a direst response to the challenge against theocratic authority that Ken Ham and Terry Mortenson of AIG speaks of,

Georgia‘s state Senate approved a bill on Friday allowing faith-based organizations to refuse services to same-sex couples without government penalties, including loss of grants or other taxpayer funding.

Senators voted 38 to 14 on party lines, despite fear about damage to the state’s economy expressed by the state’s influential business community and opposition from gay-rights advocates.

The bill combines a Senate proposal shielding adoption agencies, schools and other faith-based organizations from penalties for opposing same-sex marriage and a House bill allowing religious officials to decline performing the unions.

Sen. Greg Kirk, an Americus Republican, initially proposed the exemption for faith-based organizations as a separate bill titled the “First Amendment Defense Act.”

What makes the bill so erroneous,

In its example of beliefs that would be protected, however, the bill cites only the view of marriage as that between one man and one woman.

Georgia Senate backs exemptions for gay marriage objectors – LGBTQ Nation

House GOP attacked for passing 'bill that makes it legal' to fire single moms | PunditFact

It’s clear from a cached image of Occupy Democrats’ website and a Huffington Post article that the meme’s underlying beef is with the First Amendment Defense Act, HR 2802, introduced by Republicans on June 17.

The bill, co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Raúl Labrador, R-Idaho, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is a conservative response to the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage.

Before we get into the bill’s language and possibly worrisome interpretations, we want to make one thing clear: This bill has not passed the GOP-led House.

Far from it.The bill has been submitted to a committee for consideration. But it has not been debated, much less voted on, in committee or on the House floor.

The Senate has also not moved on its companion.  This, of course, doesn’t preclude either chamber from getting around to it. But to say the bill has been passed is just wrong.

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The part that worries some people is section 3(a), which reads:

"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Federal Government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief of moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage."

Emily Martin, vice president and general counsel of the National Women's Law Center, pointed to the last part about sexual relations being reserved for the marriage of one man and one woman.  The wording "can absolutely" be applied to women who are pregnant outside of marriage, she said.
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However, Martin argued that, in an extreme scenario, it’s possible the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would not have jurisdiction in cases under this bill since the First Amendment Defense Act specifically forbids the federal government from taking discriminatory actions against a person. (EEOC spokesman James Ryan said that the agency does not comment on pending legislation in Congress.)

House GOP attacked for passing 'bill that makes it legal' to fire single moms | PunditFact