Republicans in the Missouri Senate have given first-round approval to legislation that would shield clergy and business owners from state penalties for refusing to work on same-sex weddings.
Democrats filibustered Senate Joint Resolution 39 nonstop for nearly 40 hours, but early on the morning of March 9 GOP leaders used a procedural move, known as “moving the previous question” (PQ), to cut off debate and force a vote.
President Pro-tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, said Senate Democrats left them no choice.
“We thought that many times during the debate that we were not going to be able to move to some kind of a compromise,” he told reporters. “We’ve been going on for 40 hours, and we thought that that was fair, but we couldn’t come to a negotiated settlement that was fair to the sponsor (of the proposal) and to the (GOP) caucus.”
The sponsor, Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, unveiled an amended version of the resolution before Republican leaders decided to use the PQ motion. It would protect businesses that say “no” to serving a same-sex wedding or reception, or if they close early on a day that wedding or reception is held.
He told reporters that the additional language was meant to further narrow the bill to specifically apply to wedding vendors and ensure that it could not be broadly interpreted to apply elsewhere.
Democrats called the compromise language “cosmetic” and continued their filibuster.
“It (was) still a pretty offensive and discriminatory bill,” said Senate minority floor leader Joseph Keaveny, D-St. Louis.
Reaction to the first-round approval, and to the forced vote by Republicans, drew sharp criticism from other Democrats, as well as from the LGBT community and their supporters.
“Rewriting our state’s constitution to condone discrimination would be contrary to our values and harmful to our economy,” Gov. Jay Nixon said. “That’s why Missourians across the state, including business leaders and clergy, have spoken out strongly against SJR 39. I applaud the historic effort by the Senate minority to block this resolution and urge members of the House to protect the rights of all Missourians by opposing this discriminatory measure.”
PROMO Executive Director Steph Perkins said, “We agree that religion is a fundamental right, which is why it is protected in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and in our existing Human Rights Act. We are not arguing that clergy and churches should be denied their freedom of religion. But those same religious beliefs cannot be used as a reason to deny someone the same services that are offered to the rest of the public by private businesses. And that is exactly what SJR 39 aims to do..”
Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri, said, “Laws that promote discrimination are anti-democratic, harm Missouri families, and – as we’ve learned in Indiana – are bad for our economy. That is why so many Missourians, including clergy and business leaders, strongly oppose any effort – such as SJR 39 – that would seek to enshrine inequality in our Missouri Constitution.”
On the other side of the political aisle, Senate Republicans are being praised for their actions.
“I commend those Republican state senators who stood up for all Missourians’ First Amendment rights,” said fellow Republican Catherine Hanaway, who’s running for governor. “Missourians’ religious liberties should not be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. Today is a step in the right direction for protecting every Missourian’s freedom of religion.”
Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.
