On January 8, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear two cases challenging a Mississippi law that would allow businesses and public employees to deny services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) to safeguard the religious and moral beliefs sincerely professed by people. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The bill, titled “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination,” was passed by the Mississippi Legislature in 2016. It primarily aims to “protect having sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions” related to marriage and sex. Such protected beliefs are: "(a) Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman; (b) Sexual intercourse is properly reserved for such marriage; and (c) Male (man) or female (female) refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as determined objectively by anatomy and genetics at the time of birth. These speeches include the refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples Republican-controlled state legislature and signed by Republican governor Phillip Bryant with the support of conservative Christian activists, has not yet been implemented and more legal challenges are expected, according to gay rights advocates “We will continue to fight in Mississippi until we overturn this harmful law, and in any state where antigay legislators pass laws to roll back LGBT civil rights,” said Beth Littrell, an attorney with the gay rights group Lambda Legal. The plaintiffs in the two lawsuits, consolidated as one, argued that the bill violates their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights because it permits certain religious beliefs and discriminates against those who do not share those same beliefs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the district court's grant of an injunction, finding that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue because they had not yet suffered damages under the law. The plaintiffs appealed the district court's decision, but the Supreme Court denied review without explanation. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The Mississippi law was one of a series of measures proposed in socially conservative, Republican-dominated states that gay rights advocates saw as an attempt to undermine the High Court's ruling on gay marriage.