Mississippi's governor has signed a law that allows public and private businesses to refuse service to gay couples based on the employers' religious beliefs.
Gov. Phil Bryant signed House Bill 1523 on Tuesday, despite opposition from gay-rights groups and some businesses. Protesters had rallied outside Bryant's home on Monday demanding that he veto the bill.
However the governor went ahead and signed the controversial bill into law on Tuesday. Civil rights groups, religious leaders and major businesses are all calling on Bryant to veto the religious-objections bill that would allow government employees and private business people to deny services to same-sex couples based on the argument that gay marriage violates their religious beliefs.
Some conservative and religious groups support the bill.
The measure's intention is to protect those who believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman, that sexual relations should only take place inside such marriages, and that male and female genders are unchangeable.
The law allows churches, religious charities and privately held businesses to decline services to people violating those beliefs. Individual government employees may also opt out, although the measure says governments must still provide services.
Bill 1523 is one of numerous such measures being introduced across the country after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer that effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Just last week, Georgia's Republican governor vetoed a similar bill after big corporations and national sports groups spoke out against it and indicated that it could have negative repercussions on the state's economy.
Republican U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, whose district is in southern Mississippi, voiced support for the bill Monday. He joins the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and other supporters who say the bill protects people from government interference when practicing their religious beliefs.
The Mississippi Manufacturers Association voiced its opposition to the bill on Monday in the afternoon. By opposing the bill, it joined the state's chamber of commerce and several corporations with a presence in the state. Nissan North America, Chevron, Huntington Ingalls Industries, MGM Resorts and Entergy all voiced opposition to the bill last week.
Matt Steffey, a law professor at Mississippi College, said the bill was "not even close" to constitutional. He said the bill violates the basic principles of equality and freedom of religion by favoring one particular set of beliefs over others.
If signed into law, it would quickly be struck down in federal court, Steffey said.
"I wouldn't even put a statute like this on my final exam because it wouldn't be a challenge for my students," Steffey said Monday. "It's so blatantly unconstitutional."