How Mississippi Businesses Are Fighting a New LGBT Discrimination Law

Back in February, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a bill that would have allowed businesses to "exercise their religious beliefs" by discriminating against LGBT people. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, however, proudly put his signature on a similar piece of legislation earlier this month. It will go into effect July 1.

The proponents of Mississippi’s SB2681, the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act, claim that it is more narrowly tailored than the controversial Arizona proposal. But civil rights advocates say it clears a path for anti-gay discrimination. "The law could still open the door for someone who wants to use their religion to discriminate against others," according to the Mississippi branch of the ACLU . "Mississippi legislators rejected language that would have explicitly prohibited religion from being used to excuse discrimination."

Many business owners in Mississippi's urban centers are pushing back, saying they want no part of the new law. Mitchell Moore, who owns Campbell’s Bakery in the city’s revitalized Fondren neighborhood, made stickers that local merchants could display in their windows to make it clear how they felt about the bill. "I'm in a business to sell a product, and I want to sell that product to everybody, and I don’t care what you do in your life," Moore told MSNBC.

In Mississippi, with its troubled civil rights legacy, the fight against LGBT discrimination has a special resonance. Cities such as Jackson, gutted by white flight after desegregation, are trying to move forward into a new era by attracting young artists and professionals to move. Neighborhoods like Fondren are coming back, thanks in part to an up-and-coming generation of business owners who are explicitly inclusive of all different types of people.

Working with the LGBT rights group Equality Mississippi, Moore and other business owners designed stickers that say, "We Don’t Discriminate: If You're Buying, We're Selling."

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http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2014/04/how-mississippi-businesses-are-fighting-new-lgbt-discrimination-bill/8902/