The Campaign for Southern Equality
(CSE) on Thursday filed an appeal in a case challenging Mississippi's
controversial “religious freedom” law.
Last month, a three-judge panel of the
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that plaintiffs in the case
lacked standing, reversing a lower court's order that had put the
law, known as HB 1523, on hold.
“Under this current record, the
plaintiffs have not shown an injury-in-fact caused by HB 1523 that
would empower the district court or this court to rule on its
constitutionality,” the panel wrote. “Because the plaintiffs do
not have standing, we reverse the injunction and render a judgment of
dismissal.”
Mississippi's Protecting Freedom of
Conscience from Government Discrimination Act allows businesses
to deny services to LGBT people based on their “sincerely held
religious beliefs or moral convictions.” It also seeks to provide
similar protections to individuals who object to transgender rights.
According to CSE, the law is not in
effect, and if the Fifth Circuit agrees to a rehearing en banc by the
full court, then the lower court's preliminary injunction will remain
in force until it rules in the case.
“If the panel’s decision is allowed
to stand, then as a practical matter no one would have standing to
challenge a statute like HB 1523 that officially endorses certain
sectarian religious views over others. That would make it very
difficult, if not impossible, for the courts to enforce the core
concept of religious neutrality that animates the Establishment
Clause,” said lead counsel for the plaintiffs Roberta Kaplan. “No
matter what side you come down in this religious debate, one thing I
think we can all agree on is that the government should not be taking
side on issues of religious belief.”
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, has described HB 1523 as “the
most discriminatory, anti-LGBTQ state law in the country.”