Last night, the Missouri State Senate passed SJR39 23-7 (which was filibustered earlier in the week by 8 heroic Democrats for nearly 39.5 hours until Ron Richard pulled out the PQ Wednesday morning just after 7AM CST to end the filibuster in a 21-11 vote). The bill will now head to the House. If it passes the House, it is headed to the ballot in either August or November for voters to accept or reject the bigoted discrimination enshrinement bill disguised as a “religious liberty” bill.
Dominic Holden at BuzzFeed News:
After breaking a Democratic attempt to block the legislation earlier this week, Republicans who dominate the Missouri State Senate led a 23-7 vote on Thursday to pass a bill that would protect religious people, religious organizations, and certain businesses opposed to same-sex marriage.
The bill goes next to the state house, where Democrats are outnumbered more than two to one.
Democrats were also outnumbered for the senate vote — by a three to one margin. But they attracted national attention with a record-breaking, 39-hour filibuster that started Monday — a procedural effort to stop legislation they said would “enshrine discrimination into the constitution.”
Today, HRC denounced a vote of 23 to 7 by the Missouri Senate advancing Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 39 to the House of Representatives. Gaining national attention after a historic filibuster by Democrats earlier this week, the outrageous measure proposes to allow individuals, organizations, and businesses to use religion as a valid excuse to discriminate against LGBT people.
Similar to so-called “First Amendment Defense Act” legislation introduced in other states, this extreme resolution would lead to a ballot measure that, if approved by voters, would enshrine discrimination against LGBT people and their families into the state constitution. If the House of Representatives passes the resolution, it would go directly to the ballot and the governor would have no opportunity to veto it.
[...]
Earlier this week, the Senate Democrats vigorously fought to stop the anti-equality majority with a historic 39-hour filibuster effort that drew national attention and praise. The discriminatory proposal has received widespread condemnation from fair-minded Missourians and businesses throughout the state, including Governor Jay Nixon, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the St. Louis Regional Chamber, Dow Chemical Company, and Monsanto. The St. Louis Regional Chamber on Twitter said the proposal is “counter to MO values & will have negative economic consequences.” Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders also spoke out against the bill.
SJR 39 goes far beyond protecting the right of free exercise of one’s religion. While shrouded in language framed as prohibiting the state government from making funding or tax status decisions based on an organization’s views on marriage that are driven by religious belief, in reality it opens the door to discrimination against same-sex couples, their families, and those who love them.
Tony Messenger at STLToday.com:
When they came for the gays, did you speak up?
For nearly 40 hours this week, the eight Democrats in the Missouri Senate did.
Republicans were pushing one of their misplaced priorities, a constitutional amendment that if passed by voters would enshrine discrimination against gays and lesbians into the very document that exists to protect those rights. One by one, and two by two, the outnumbered members of the minority party took their turns holding the floor for nearly two full days.
Then the hammer was brought down by the president pro tem of the Senate, Ron Richard, R-Joplin, and the sponsor of Senate Joint Resolution No. 39, Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis. They broke their own rules to cut off debate and pass their resolution of hate.
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So, should SJR 39 become law, Missouri will be a place that not only refuses to protect gays from discrimination but also creates a specific protected class for bakers, photographers and florists who refuse to provide their business services to gay people. The party of so-called “tort reform” creates a special path to court for those who choose to discriminate.
Get ready for the fallout, Missouri. If SJR 39 becomes law, the economic consequences could be devastating. That’s what Indiana civic and corporate leaders found out last year when the legislature there passed a similar proposal. The calls for boycott came quickly. Conventions were canceled. The NCAA threatened to leave. Indiana lost millions of dollars of economic activity, and then corporate leaders belatedly spoke up and convinced the legislature to backtrack, at least somewhat.
Roll Call of SJR39 vote, via KMOX:
Voting Results: Voting “yes” were 23 Republicans.
Voting “no” were seven Democrats.
Two senators were absent.
REPUBLICANS VOTING YES
Dan Brown, Rolla Mike Cunningham, Rogersville
Bob Dixon, Springfield
Ed Emery, Lamar
Dan Hegeman, Cosby
Mike Kehoe, Jefferson City
Will Kraus, Lee’s Summit
Doug Libla, Poplar Bluff
Brian Munzlinger, Williamstown
Bob Onder, Lake St. Louis
Mike Parson, Bolivar
David Pearce, Warrensburg
Ron Richard, Joplin
Jeanie Riddle, Mokane
Gary Romine, Farmington
David Sater, Cassville
Kurt Schaefer, Columbia
Dave Schatz, Sullivan
Eric Schmitt, Glendale
Ryan Silvey, Kansas City
Wayne Wallingford, Cape Girardeau
Jay Wasson, Nixa Paul Wieland, ImperialDEMOCRATS VOTING NO Kiki Curls, Kansas City
Jason Holsman, Kansas City
Joe Keaveny, St. Louis
Jamilah Nasheed, St. Louis
Jill Schupp, Creve Coeur
Scott Sifton, St. Louis Gina Walsh, St. LouisABSENT DEMOCRATS Maria Chappelle-Nadal, St. Louis
ABSENT REPUBLICANS Rob Schaaf, St. Joseph
On the absent Senators: Chappelle-Nadal would likely have voted NO, while Schaaf would have likely voted YES.
I live in Illinois, just outside of St. Louis and do have familial ties to the Show-Me State, so it is time to work to defeat the hateful, bigoted, and mean-spirited #SJR39 and keep it from becoming the law of Missouri!
Hashtags: #SJR39, #StopSJR39, #SJR39Hurts, #NoHateInMyState, #NotInMyState, #MOLeg