A federal appeals court on Friday
denied Mississippi's request to be allowed to enforce its
controversial “religious freedom” law while it appeals a lower
court's ruling blocking the measure from taking effect.
After U.S. District Court Judge Carlton
Reeves denied Republican Governor Phil Bryant's request to stay his
June 30 ruling blocking House Bill 1523 from taking effect, Bryant
turned to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
A three-judge panel of the Fifth
Circuit denied Bryant's request along with a separate request to
expedite the appeal, BuzzFeed
News reported.
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.
In dismissing the state's motion,
Reeves suggested that the state was motivated by animus toward the
LGBT community.
“[I]ssuing a marriage license to a
gay couple is not like being forced into armed combat or to assist
with an abortion. Matters of life and death are sui generis.
If movants truly believe that providing services to LGBT citizens
forces them to 'tinker with the machinery of death,' their animus
exceeds anything seen in Romer, Windsor or the marriage
equality cases,” Reeves
wrote, referring to earlier gay rights cases argued before the
Supreme Court.