State of Mississippi Archives: on Civil Rights

Mike Espy: Make it easier for qualified voters to vote during pandemic

Mike Espy: HRC endorsement: Espy a strong LGBTQ ally

Robert Foster: Being discriminated against is part of our free society

A: I actually feel discriminated against a lot as a conservative. I feel discriminated against a lot as a Christian in our society today, and attacked a lot for my beliefs. But I think people have the right to free speech. I don't want to quell somebody's free speech because I don't believe in what I believe. We have groups of people out there trying to not even allow the other side to have a say.

[Race-based discrimination is] not what I was talking about in that tweet. If you discriminate against somebody because of their skin color or something of that nature, that is wrong, and everybody would agree that that is wrong.

Robert Foster: Denying services to gays different than denying to blacks

A: They could have simply called and just been upfront with them about (being a gay couple). Just call when you know it's something out of the ordinary and be upfront with the person, and then go do business with the people you want to do business with.

Q: Would you say that to an interracial couple?

A: I think that's completely different situation. I just do, to me. It is not an issue, I think. I think race is completely different than getting somebody involved in a religious ceremony that goes against their core beliefs.

Q: Historically, Christians in the South believed God "made the races separate."

A: Honestly, I just don't see that in my views as a Christian. I haven't gotten that from the Bible.

Phil Bryant: 2016: Let businesses refuse to serve LGBT people

Foster defended his support for the bill at the time, writing in April 2016 that "dealing with discrimination is part of the price you pay to live in a free society." Later that month, Gov. Phil Bryant signed it into law.

Robert Foster: 2015: Never heard anyone being offended by our state flag

Blaming Dylann Roof's massacre of worshipers for disdain for the Confederate battle emblem in the state flag is a common talking point today among the flag's supporters. But many Mississippians expressed discomfort with the state flag's canton well before 2015. In 2001, flag critics led an effort to change the flag with a referendum, with a focus on improving the state's business climate and reputation to outsiders rather than what it represents, that ultimately failed among race lines.

Today, many white Mississippians who previously supported the state flag are changing their minds based on the racist legacies of slavery & the Civil War.

Robert Foster: Let businesses refuse to serve LGBT people

Foster defended his support for the bill at the time, writing in April 2016 that "dealing with discrimination is part of the price you pay to live in a free society." Later that month, Gov. Phil Bryant signed it into law.

David Baria: Businesses shouldn't deny services to same-sex couples

David Baria (D): Yes. Opposed 2016 bill to expand right of government employees & private businesses to refuse services to same-sex couples.

Roger Wicker (R): No. "I will continue to work to protect First Amendment rights of those who. oppose same-sex marriage."

Roger Wicker: Allow businesses to deny services to same-sex couples

David Baria (D): Yes. Opposed 2016 bill to expand right of government employees & private businesses to refuse services to same-sex couples.

Roger Wicker (R): No. "I will continue to work to protect First Amendment rights of those who. oppose same-sex marriage."

Jim Hood: Help marginalized communities, like Jesus taught

David Baria: Strong backer of women's rights; equal pay for equal work

Tate Reeves: Clerks have religious right to refuse gay marriage licenses

Phil Bryant: Let business use religious belief to not serve LGBT people

Analysis of HB 1523 by the Mississippi Clarion Ledger: A reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide, the Mississippi bill seeks to protect by law the belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and prevents government intervention when churches or businesses act "based upon or in a manner consistent with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction." The advocacy director for the Mississippi Center for Justice said HB 1523 "violates a fundamental American value and strikes at the very heart of our work towards a fairer and more just state. This law is discriminatory."

Legislative Outcome: Passed Senate 32-17-1 on Mar/30/17; Passed House 69-44-8 on Apr/1/17; Signed by Governor Phil Bryant on Apr/19/17.

Robert Foster: Let business use religious belief to not serve LGBT people

Analysis of HB 1523 by the Mississippi Clarion Ledger: A reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide, the Mississippi bill seeks to protect by law the belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and prevents government intervention when churches or businesses act "based upon or in a manner consistent with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction." The advocacy director for the Mississippi Center for Justice said HB 1523 "violates a fundamental American value and strikes at the very heart of our work towards a fairer and more just state. This law is discriminatory."

Legislative Outcome: Passed Senate 32-17-1 on Mar/30/17; Passed House 69-44-8 on Apr/1/17; State Rep. Robert Foster voted YES; Signed by Governor Phil Bryant on Apr/19/17.

Chris McDaniel: Let business use religious belief to not serve LGBT people

Analysis of HB 1523 by the Mississippi Clarion Ledger: A reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide, the Mississippi bill seeks to protect by law the belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and prevents government intervention when churches or businesses act "based upon or in a manner consistent with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction." The advocacy director for the Mississippi Center for Justice said HB 1523 "violates a fundamental American value and strikes at the very heart of our work towards a fairer and more just state. This law is discriminatory."

Legislative Outcome: Passed Senate 32-17-1 on Mar/30/17; State Sen. Chris McDaniel voted YES; Passed House 69-44-8 on Apr/1/17; Signed by Governor Phil Bryant on Apr/19/17.

Phil Bryant: Backs bill for marriage between one man and one woman

Tate Reeves: Backs bill for marriage between one man and one woman

Vicki Slater: People don't recognize MS flag, only Confederate flag

A: One of the main problems with the flag is that it's the vision that businesses and other states have of Mississippi because of that flag [At events where] there were flags from all 50 states and people in the stands were outraged, saying, 'Why is there a Confederate flag?" They didn't recognize that as the Mississippi state flag. They just recognized it as a Confederate flag. The flag that we have now was never made the official flag until a few years ago. It was always flown as if it was the state flag, even though it was not. So if you look at it in that way, the governor could just say I'm going to fly a flag that isn't official.

Q: Would you use your authority as governor to do that?

A: I would certainly contemplate it.

Vicki Slater: Supreme Court gay marriage ruling is not federal overreach

A: I've heard a lot of rhetoric from the Republicans that the gay-marriage ruling was federal overreach. It's not federal overreach for the U.S. Supreme Court to interpret the U.S. Constitution, and it's not the first time the U.S. Supreme Court has addressed the issue of marriage. Basically, what they've said is what is private to an individual is up to that individual, so I don't really see it as federal overreach at all. I don't see it as unprecedented as far as the court speaking to marriage. What the Supreme Court said in this decision was that the state should allow gay marriage, but that the religious leaders have a right not to perform the ceremony if it violates their religion. If the Mississippi Legislature passed a law that said religious leaders don't have to do this, it would be an unnecessary law, but it would be in line with the Constitution.

Vicki Slater: Remove Confederate Battle symbol from state flag

She commends Gov. Nikki Haley for calling for the removal of the Confederate Battle flag on the S.C. State House grounds. "We should change the flag. If the emblem is offensive to any of our Christian brothers and sisters, and it's divisive, then it needs to be changed," said Slater.

Jim Hood: Personally opposes gay marriage ban, but defends it as AG

Hood says he thinks the marriage ban will eventually be overturned by the US supreme court. The state has already informed the court that it intends to appeal the ruling ahead of gay marriage potentially becoming legal in Mississippi a week from today.

Governor Phil Bryant strongly backs appealing the ruling and says he still believes keeping same-sex couples from getting married is a good policy for the state. "Absolutely. Voted for it and continue to support it. Just like many, many Mississippians," Bryant said.

Phil Bryant: Banning same-sex marriage is good policy

Hood says he thinks the marriage ban will eventually be overturned by the US supreme court. The state has already informed the court that it intends to appeal the ruling ahead of gay marriage potentially becoming legal in Mississippi a week from today.

Governor Phil Bryant strongly backs appealing the ruling and says he still believes keeping same-sex couples from getting married is a good policy for the state. "Absolutely. Voted for it and continue to support it. Just like many, many Mississippians," Bryant said.

Chris McDaniel: Government shouldn't redefine marriage

McDaniel: Strongly Agree

Chris McDaniel: As host of Right Side Radio, railed against hip-hop culture

"Millions in this country feel like strangers in this land--you recognize that, don't you?" he told an audience of farmers in Covington County. "An older America passes away, a new America rises to take its place. We recoil from that culture. It's foreign to us. It's offensive to us."

[His supporters] see a candidate who grew up steeped in his Baptist faith, surrounded--and influenced by--the history and traditions of the rural South.

Chris McDaniel: Dems want homosexual marriage legal in all 50 states

Haley Barbour: Proud of MS's highest vote in US for traditional marriage

Ronnie Musgrove: Ban gay couples from adopting

Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove signed the bill after it easily cleared the Legislature in the final days of the recently concluded 2000 session. Florida and Utah have similar laws.

Mississippi’s law takes effect July 1. Its supporters said it was spurred in part by Vermont’s new law giving gay couples nearly all of the benefits of marriage.