HB1523: Business as usual as controversial religious freedom law is enacted
When Mississippi House Bill 1523, the religious freedom bill allowing business owners to turn away customers because of their sexuality, goes into effect Tuesday, Tammy Youngblood has no plans to change how she does business.
If anything, the owner of Ivy Cottage Florist off Highway 45 is "bummed" that the law is going into effect at all, she said.
"At no point will I ask anyone anything about their sex," she said. "And I don't care if it's a bride and bride or a groom and a groom that comes in."
"I treat everyone fairly," she added. "I would never be disrespectful to another human being and I think that's based on my religion."
The controversial bill, passed in 2016, allows government employees and businesses to refuse to provide services to members of the LGBT community due to religious or moral beliefs that oppose same-sex marriage, transgender people or extramarital sex.
Read more: http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=61201