Nothing better is expected from a southern state such as Mississippi than an act of oppression. As the Southern states were behind in the “tolerance” of slaves as free men/women, they are again behind in the practice of acceptance.
With state after state declaring equal rights to marriage for the LGBT community, Mississippi had once again proven that they are a backward state. “Mississippi’s Arizona-style “religious freedom” bill, an attempt by lawmakers to make it legal for businesses to refuse customers based on, “sincerely held religious beliefs” was approved by state House and Senate. (Gaily Grind)
Arkansas has also stood the test of time because their former Governor Huckabee has openly criticized the judge who supported the LGBT community with the overthrowing of same-sex marriage ban.
“Although marriage is not expressly identified as a fundamental right in the Constitution, the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized it as such,” Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled in striking down the 2004 amendment to the state’s constitution as well as a statute passed in 1997.
“This is an unconstitutional attempt to narrow the definition of equality,” he wrote. “The exclusion of a minority for no rational reason is a dangerous precedent.”
Huckabee is quoted by Joe on JoeMyGod which reflects extreme prejudice against the LGBT community and continues to bring shame to politicians. Huckabee takes the time to bash heavily against the judge that has made that decision to virtually allow gay marriages overnight however unfortunately for Huckabee, he is no longer governor.
While Arkansas is not quite there with Mississippi in terms of discrimination against the LGBT community, having such an important person within the government (or former) openly be critical of a forward-moving statement by a judge is nothing but bad taste. Not only does Huckabee leave a bad taste in the mouth, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel intends to appeal.
While Huckabee is being ignored by speaker of the House Davy Crater (R) in his rally to impeach, Davy still makes a statement that stands clear, “Trying to impeach a Judge because you don’t like his or her decision notwithstanding the subject matter is absurd and goes against hundreds of years of the way our great country has conducted business,”
Interestingly enough, lawmakers in Arkansas have been extremely quiet about the ruling on Friday but others have condemned Piazza’s statement that “marriage needs to be redefined” and is still going to go to state supreme court for an appeal.
Another example of oppression within the state of Arkansas would be Melinda Reynolds, the county clerk for Faulkner County. She has shamefully and tastelessly decided that she will not respect the judge’s overthrowing of the same-sex marriage ban by not issuing or distributing marriage licenses to same sex couples. Her excuse is that the state law is still intact and the judge’s ruling did not overthrow it.
Did somebody say, backward state?
