Theocrats Own Mississippi

LOS ANGELES—The fact that a Mississippi bill that all but codifies the religious persecution of homosexuals was signed into law last week at a private ceremony reportedly attended by "a few elected officials, lobbyists for the state's influential Southern Baptist Convention and Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council" says pretty much all you need to know about the ascendance of theocrats in the state: they basically own it. But legalizing prejudice against gays is just one of the ways that Mississippi has endeavored to turn the clock back to a simpler, less-tolerant time. In the area of education—and specifically sex education—rather than adopt standards developed over the last few decades, the state is more interested in curriculums used during the turn of the century—the sixteenth century! Indeed, the next logical step for Governor Phil Bryant will be to institute an official state inquisition overseen by a cabal of religious and government leaders, with a few witch burnings thrown in for good measure. The anti-gay bill, SB 2681, which was signed into law Thursday by Bryant, is a vague piece of legislation that essentially says that the government "should not substantially burden religious exercise without compelling justification." The only justification for applying such a burden is if the government action is "in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest" and is "the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest." However, the scope of the new law extends to every area of state governing, including "all state laws, rules, regulations and any municipal or county ordinances, rules or regulations and the implementation of those laws, whether statutory or otherwise, and whether adopted before or after the enactment of this section." According to HuffPo, "Though the bill is vaguely worded, supporters said an example of would be a zoning law to limit the location of a church, mosque or synagogue but not limiting the location of a secular business." In reaction, Waveland resident Jeff White, a founder of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Lesbian and Gay Community Center, said, "It's the first time in my life that I've actually considered moving out of Mississippi. It made me physically ill the past few days, realizing what they're trying to do." As hurtful as the "religious liberty" law is, the state's position on education is increasingly Taliban-like, especially when it comes to sex education mandates that require "male and female students to be instructed in separate classrooms and prohibits condom demonstrations in schools." According to an article posted today to HuffPo, mandated curriculums also state that  "teachers are required to instruct students that homosexual activity under the 'unnatural intercourse' statute is illegal, and that a 'monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the only appropriate setting for sexual intercourse.'" The sole bright spot in the state is the indication that a few school districts are fighting back against the obvious move by the governor and like-minded legislators to make Mississippi into an official theocracy. Despite the fact that for almost two years Mississippi has required all school districts to use an abstinence-centered sex-ed curriculum, HuffPo reports that "12 percent of districts have not yet implemented any sex-ed courses, according to a recent study by the Center for Mississippi Health Policy." That's a small percentage of the whole, to be sure, but an indication nonetheless that a noteworthy number of Mississippi citizens are still fighting to drag their state into the 21st century.