Earlier this week Mississippi governor Phil Bryant signed into law House Bill 1523 to “protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions…from discriminatory action…” He goes on to say that the law does not interfere with any rights afforded to any citizen under currently existing laws. You can read his full statement here.
I caught wind of this in the form of critics decrying it as legalized discrimination. Headlines described it as awful and articles suggested crazy-sounding potential scenarios like women being fired for wearing pants. I’m also aware of the echo chamber that our social feeds can form. I follow people who share similar views as myself, resulting in everyone reinforcing everyone else and giving the false impression my opinion is the overwhelming majority. So I sought out breakdowns of the bill, taking extra interest in it since it is my home state. I could see and agree with the critics’ point of view. I would normally just leave it at that, as an unfortunate truth that I would quietly do what I could to undo; maybe write a letter, vote for the people I’d rather have making decisions, etc.
Then I saw that supporters of the bill were using this hashtag: #MSLiveAndLetLive. And something in me broke.