A Mississippi judge denied on Monday the state's request to enforce a religious freedom law that was signed last April.
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves, appointed by President Barack Obama, declined to lift his earlier ruling that barred the implementation of HB 1523 or the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act," according to Life Site News.
The law protects the sincerely held religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman, sexual relations are reserved for such marriage and that male or female refers to one's biological sex.
It would allow citizens not to participate in same-sex marriage ceremonies, place children under the care of same-sex couples and rent homes to homosexuals.
The law also allows state clerks to decline application for same-sex marriage licence or perform a same-sex wedding ceremony.
"Issuing a marriage license to a gay couple is not like being forced into armed combat or to assist with an abortion. Matters of life and death are sui generis. If movants truly believe that providing services to LGBT citizens forces them to 'tinker with the machinery of death,' their animus exceeds anything seen in Romer, Windsor, or the marriage equality cases," Reeves wrote in his decision. "The baton is now passed."
Gov. Phil Bryant has asked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the judge's order while the appeal is being heard by the court.
The law was supposed to take effect on July 1 but Reeves issued a preliminary injunction on June 30 blocking it.
In his ruling, Reeves said, "The final element asks whether the public interest is served by a stay. It is not. In this case the public interest is better served by maintaining the status quo – a Mississippi without HB 1523," according to Mississippi Today.
Bryant's lawyers said they are confident that the appeals court will side with the law.
"We respectfully disagree with the district court's ruling and look forward to defending the constitutionality of HB 1523, a good law that affirms freedom in Mississippi, before the 5th Circuit," said Jim Campbell, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom.
