The Senate Judiciary B Committee said ‘no’ to Representative Mike Johnson’s Pastor Protection Act, a bill that would extend the rights of pastors or priests to not perform marriages against their sincerely held religious beliefs.
“The bill is a harmless piece of legislation that is very specifically and narrowly tailored and limited in its scope,” explains Johnson.
The Bossier City Representative authored last year’s "Marriage and Conscience Act," which failed in committee and became an executive order under then-Governor Bobby Jindal.
New Orleans Senator JP Morrell has a handful of problems with this year’s bill.
“I think what you’re looking at is a knee-jerk reaction to an unpopular court decision, just like there were many knee-jerk reactions to Loving v Virginia when the Supreme Court repealed interracial marriage,” says Morrell.
“Unlike Loving v Virginia," responds Johnson, "the Obergefell decision literally changed the definition of marriage. They’re saying persons of the same sex can unite, so that changed what marriage is.”
In the Obergefell decision of June 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that persons of the same sex had the constitutional right to marry.
“The state of Louisiana didn’t define marriage as between a man and a woman until 1988. Before 1988, marriage was a contract between two people. Similarly, in 1808 and 1894, the people of the state of Louisiana defined that marriage could not be between two people of opposite races. The definition of marriage has been changed historically, in this state, repeatedly based upon the social norms of that time period,” says Morrell. “I feel like," continues Morrell, "when I look at your bill, we’re putting discrimination into law.”
Also on Tuesday, another Senate committee said ‘no’ to a house bill imposing financial sanctions on Louisiana’s sanctuary cities.
Is this a sign of things to come as the Senate deals with the budget later this week?