Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, a
Republican, refused to say Friday whether he'll sign a so-called
religious freedom bill into law that broadly protects opponents of
marriage equality.
House Bill 1523 cleared the House with
a 69-45 vote on Friday, two days after the Senate passed it 32-17.
While Republicans control both chambers, overturning a veto would not
seem possible under those margins.
“I haven't gotten to it yet,”
Bryant
told reporters. “As soon as it gets to us, we'll look at it
and decide.”
“I'm going to look at it like I do
every piece of legislation and as soon as I make that decision, I'll
let you know,” he added.
House Bill 1523 would protect
individuals – a broad category which could include certain
businesses – who act on their religious objections to marriage
equality and transgender people. It would protect people who believe
that “sexual relations are properly reserved” for married
heterosexual couples and that a person's sex is “objectively
determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.”
Final passage came a day after a
federal judge struck down Mississippi's ban on adoption by gay
couples.
(Related: Judge
overturns Mississippi's ban on adoption by gay couples.)
More than 100 business leaders have
called for repeal of a similar bill in North Carolina.
(Related: Tim
Cook, Marc Benioff, Sundar Pichai call on North Carolina to repeal
anti-gay bill.)