Let Political Correctness Be Damned!

I make it a point to stay away from the political carnival, and I know the actions of politicians are ALWAYS duplicitous and eventually self-serving, but it really is a breath of Fresh air to see a Governor, more to the point, a SOUTHERN Governor, stand up against the rising tide of liberalism and Federal Extortion of the States to ignore the MAJORITY’s Moral and Religious beliefs.

After Georgia Governor Nathan Deal recently vetoed a similar bill (because of Federal and Corporate Extortion) and by consequence cow-towed to the Gay Rights minority, I thought the South was doomed to join the rest of the country in that long grey line of the “Politically Correct”, but Governor Phil Bryant has thrown a huge monkey wrench into all that. Let’s hope his example of  sticking up for a States Sovereign Rights spreads like wildfire. Thank You Governor. -SF

On Tuesday, Gov. Phil Bryant of Mississippi signed the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act into law. To protect religious liberty in his state, he stood up against corporate bullies and leftist pressure groups.

The Republican governor should be an inspiration to lawmakers everywhere.

In the last few years, states and localities nationwide have prosecuted small businesses for declining involvement in gay marriage ceremonies. We’ve seen the government do some pretty terrible things, like Washington state trying to bankrupt a 70-year-old florist, or Oregon fining a bakery $135,000 and then placing a gag order on the owners to silence them.

We’ve even seen the most intolerant tendencies of the Left’s rank-and-file whena pizza place in Indiana was threatened with violence for even discussing thepossibility of not participating in a gay wedding celebration.

To make matters worse, whenever state legislatures have considered religious freedom bills to protect regular Americans from this intolerance, activist groups and massive corporations like Disney, Hilton, and Marriott have shown up and threatened boycotts, protests, and relocations. Recently, lawmakers in West Virginia and Georgia have been cowed into shelving or vetoing these common sense policies.

This is the toxic atmosphere of corporate bullying Bryant chose to fight. As he wrote in a signing statement:

I am signing HB 1523 into law to protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organizations and private associations from discriminatory action by state government or its political subdivisions […]This bill merely reinforces the rights which currently exist to the exercise of religious freedom as stated in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

A shocking amount of slanted news stories uncritically describe Mississippi’s new law as “anti-gay” or “discriminatory.” Nothing could be further from the truth

A shocking amount of slanted news stories uncritically describe Mississippi’s new law as “anti-gay” or “discriminatory.” Nothing could be further from the truth—you can read the details here. The law now simply protects religious organizations and a narrow slice of small businesses from being forced by government to engage in behavior that contradicts their deeply held beliefs. Nobody is being denied services because of who they are.

Bryant and the Mississippi state legislature have set a sterling example for other states seeking to protect the rights of all Americans. They did so in the face of vitriolic, misleading opposition from progressives and the corporations they use as instruments of bullying. This took real courage, and deserves our praise.

Read the Original Article at Daily Signal