The Mississippi State University Student Association passed a resolution Tuesday slamming the Legislature’s recent passage of House Bill 1523 — the religious freedom bill — and urged local and state lawmakers to protect residents from discrimination.
As approved, MSUSA’s Resolution 18 decries HB 1523’s language as “contrary to the values” of the university’s non-discrimination and anti-harassment policy, and opposed to MSU’s “overall commitment to the protection of the rights of all students, faculty, staff and administration, regardless of their many diverse backgrounds and characteristics.”
It also asks the Legislature to “recognize and protect the rights of all groups as equal, to act in the best interest of the state … and only support legislation that is of similar sentiment to the values of” the university and its policies.
Resolution 18 was one of two acts denouncing HB 1523 approved by the Student Association in its last meeting, said MSUSA President Roxanne Raven. Raven said she is likely to sign Resolution 18 instead of the other statement since it takes a stronger stance on the issue.
Raven applauded MSUSA senators for supporting Resolution 18 and said its passage was “the right thing to do.”
“We need to make sure people understand who we are as MSU students,” she said.
Copies of the resolution will be sent to the heads of student governments at other state universities, MSU administrators, the Starkville Board of Aldermen, state lawmakers and Gov. Phil Bryant.
MSUSA’s denouncement of HB 1523 — also known as the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act — is one of many acts of protest against the bill since it was signed by Bryant on April 5.
It goes into effect July 1.
Since its passage, many businesses, religious leaders and advocacy groups have signed letters criticizing the legislation, and numerous states and cities have banned non-essential travel to Mississippi and North Carolina, which passed legislation banning people from using public bathrooms that do not correspond to their biological sex and preventing cities from passing anti-discrimination ordinances.
As written, HB 1523 allows government employees, religious groups and private business to deny people services based upon their own religious beliefs. It protects beliefs that marriage should be only between a man and a woman, that sex should only take place inside marriage and that a person’s gender is set at birth.
While it gives government officials the right to deny services, it states circuit clerks must take “all necessary steps” to ensure marriage licenses are not delayed.
“This bill merely reinforces the rights which currently exist to the exercise of religious freedom as stated in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” Bryant said in a statement earlier this month.
Opponents to the bill said it could lead to state-sanctioned discrimination members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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