Mississippi considers banning all state weddings to stop the gays from marrying
The state of Mississippi could refuse to issue marriage licenses to anyone – to stop gay people from marrying.
The Deep South state, which until last week was one of the 14 states left that still banned on same-sex marriage, is calculating its reaction to the Supreme Court ruling finding such bans unconstitutional.
Republican lawmaker Andy Gipson, who chairs the state’s House Judiciary Chairman, mulled the prospect of stopping marrying people entirely after the ruling.
He told the Clarion Ledger: “One of the options that other states have looked at is removing the state marriage license requirement.
“We will be researching what options there are. I personally can see pros and cons to that. I don’t know if it would be better to have no marriage certificate sponsored by the state or not.
“But it’s an option out there to be considered.”
Republican Presidential candidate Rand Paul has also claimed that the government should stop recognising marriage entirely, in order to spite the gays.
Writing in Time magazine, he claimed: “The government should not prevent people from making contracts but that does not mean that the government must confer a special imprimatur upon a new definition of marriage.
“Perhaps the time has come to examine whether or not governmental recognition of marriage is a good idea, for either party.”
Meanwhile, politicians in states including Michigan have also attempted to ban all non-religious weddings – though the move would be futile given the number of religions which already provide same-sex weddings.
