Scholars File Amici Brief On Constitutionality of Mississippi Statute - See more at:
Scholars File Amici Brief On Constitutionality of Mississippi Statute
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT
Amici agree with Appellees that HB 1523 discriminates against and burdens
LGBT people in violation of the
Equal Protection and Establishment Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. This brief provides relevant demographic, social science, and legal research intended to assist the Court in its consideration of these issues by presenting a fuller picture of Mississippi’s LGBT citizens and the long history of discrimination that they have faced. As scholars who specialize in studying the LGBT population, Amici are particularly well suited to present such research to the Court.
HB 1523 elevates the following three beliefs for special protection under
Mississippi law: (1) “marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman”; (2) “sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage”; and
(3) “male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.”3 Beliefs 1 and 2 demean and disadvantage lesbian, gay, and bisexual (“LGB”) people married to (or who may marry) someone of the same sex, as well as all sexually active unmarried people (especially those who are LGB, given
Belief 1).
Belief 3 targets transgender people because their sex assigned at birth does not correspond to their gender identity.
Accordingly, HB 1523 demeans and disadvantages approximately 74,500
LGBT adults, thousands of whom are in same-sex marriages, and tens of thousands of LGBT youth and young adults in Mississippi. In turn, HB 1523 jeopardizes thousands of children who are being raised by LGBT parents in Mississippi. Research demonstrates that LGBT people and their families in Mississippi are socially and economically disadvantaged, and have been subject to a long history of discrimination, prejudice, and violence. Thus, far from granting LGBT people “equal dignity in the eyes of the law,” Obergefell, 135 S. Ct. at 2608, HB 1523 entrenches harmful discrimination against LGBT people and their families.
CONCLUSION
Research demonstrates that LGBT Mississippians and their families are
vulnerable socio-economically and many are subject to discrimination in
employment, housing, and other important aspects of their lives. HB 1523, by
elevating anti-LGBT religious beliefs over others, demeans and disadvantages
LGBT people in the state. The Court should affirm the District Court’s ruling