Discriminatory Mississippi “Religious Freedom” Laws Deny Potential Customers Services & Treat them Like Second-Class Citizens

"Religious Freedom"

What has been your reaction to the recent laws enacted in North Carolina and Mississippi where “religious freedom” is being touted as a way to deny services to certain Americans? Read about the law here.

One of our main principles at The Date Safe Project is to treat every human being with dignity and respect. To use religion to degrade and/or deny others services is not an act of dignity, respect, love, or compassion. Think about a person saying, “I refuse to offer you medical and/or counseling services based on your sexual orientation and/or gender identity” and the judgment implied in that statement.

Let’s look more closely at the logic of this new law:

An example would be a Christian who defends the new “religious freedom” by stating: “I should not have to serve anyone who goes against my religious belief. Because I know you are gay – which goes against the principles I believe are shared in the Bible – I will deny you services.”

The absolute contradiction is: In the eyes of Christianity, everyone is a sinner and does not live a life perfectly according to the ideals. Therefore, Christian supporters of the “religious freedom” law should close down their businesses because under their own philosophy that they cannot serve sinners (those who go against the lessons they interpret the bible as teaching) —thus, they cannot serve anyone.

Yes, that logic may seem ridiculous and that is the point! The sad part is this law (and ones like it) are beyond ridiculous and more importantly they are harmful. They are hurting fellow Americans. These laws are saying some of our fellow citizens do not deserve to be treated with the same respect and love as others citizens. Sound familiar to other hatred propagated in our country’s past?

Laws such as these are separating us at a time our country continues to become more splintered. We need to unite to speak out against these laws in support of our fellow citizens and come from a place of acceptance, not judgment. Let the businesses and corporations who are speaking out against these laws know how much you support their stance. How? Send them an email. Call their corporate offices. Your voice matters!

So why am I writing about this on our organization’s blog post?
If someone can be denied the same rights and services as others (including counseling), the person may be denied the opportunity to learn they deserve to have choices and to be treated equally in ALL forms of relationships. #neveracceptable
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