U.S. Supreme Court Okays Mississippi Anti-LGBT Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In what many are calling a backwards step, the U.S. Supreme Court chose not to hear challenges to Mississippi’s “License to Discriminate” Law, the court announced Monday Jan. 8, 2018.

You will remember last year when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the parties who brought a lawsuit against Mississippi’s House Bill 1523, the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act, did not prove that they had legal standing to challenge the law because the plaintiff’s hadn’t actually been harmed by the law since it had not yet go into effect.

However it did not rule on the merits of the Anti-LGBT Law. The ruling in overturning a federal district court’s injunction blocking the Anti-LGBT law, green lighted HB 1523 which was signed by Gov. Phil Bryant in 2016, to take effect last October.

The Supreme Court’s decision to reject hearing the case allows the anti-LGBT law to stand.

This isn’t the end simply because the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of these anti-LGBT law cases does not mean an end to the fight. Now that the law is in effect, we are sure to see a huge load of cases challenging the law make its way back to the U.S. Supreme Court for a final decision. Let’s not forget how long it took for us to get the U.S. Supreme Court to pass same-sex marriage!

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