February 2017 Church & State - February 2016

AU Joins Suit Challenging Miss. ‘Religious Freedom’ Law

  AU admin

Americans United has joined a legal effort to stop a Mississippi law that critics say allows discrimination against LGBTQ people in the name of religion.

The law, which Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) signed in April 2016, allows religiously affiliated individuals, employers, healthcare providers and others to refuse to serve or help LGBTQ people, even if they receive taxpayer funds. In June, a federal district court declared the law unconstitutional, and the Barber v. Bryant case is on appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Americans United joined a friend-of-the-court brief that was filed Dec. 23. The brief urges the appeals court to strike down the law “because it uses religion as an excuse to sanction discrimination,” AU Assistant Legislative Director Dena Sher wrote in a blog post that ran Dec. 28 on AU’s Protect Thy Neighbor website.

“We know we’ll face more efforts to misuse religious freedom to justify discrimination,” Sher wrote. “Just like we have in the past, we’ll fight back.”

BREAKING NEWS

Americans United & the National Women’s Law Center file suit to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans.

Abortion bans violate the separation of church and state. Americans United and the National Women’s Law Center—the leading experts in religious freedom and gender justice—have joined forces with thirteen clergy from six faith traditions to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans as unconstitutionally imposing one narrow religious doctrine on everyone.


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