Musings on the Mississippi Religious Freedom Bill

The Mississippi Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act has been in the news lately.  If signed by the Mississippi governor, the law would have a far-reaching impact on the LGBT community.  For instance, the legislation would allow businesses and religious organizations to refuse certain services to LGBT individuals without any legal punishment. 

The law would also allow a clerk to deny a marriage license to anyone who has engaged in pre-marital sex.  If enforced as written, there might be a pretty steep drop off in Mississippi marriage licenses.

From an HR standpoint, the law sets forth a specific section that seems aimed at transgender employees.  The relevant part of the law reads as follows:

The state government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person wholly or partially on the basis that the person establishes sex-specific standards or policies concerning employee or student dress or grooming, or concerning access to restrooms, spas, baths, showers, dressing rooms, locker rooms, or other intimate facilities or settings, based upon or in a manner consistent with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction described in Section 2 of this act.

Section 2 states:

The sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions protected by this act are the belief or conviction that:(a) Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman; (b) Sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage; and (c) Male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.

Stated plainly, the law seems designed to require an employee who was born male to act and dress like a stereotypical male and an employee born female to act like a stereotypical female.  This includes dress and use of restrooms, which have become an extremely controversial issue with other states, such as North Carolina, attempting to pass legislation regarding transgender use of restrooms.

Only time will tell if this bill is signed into law and how the inevitable legal challenges will play out.  For now, the bill highlights the fact that the national debate regarding religious freedom versus LGBT rights will continue to impact employers and the workplace.