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Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a an Arizona-style anti-gay segregation bill that supporters say will assure unfettered practice of religion without government interference. The bill, called the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act, will become law July 1. It also will add “In God We Trust” to the state seal.

Next to the seal will hang the Mississippi state flag which still bears the confederate battle emblem.

Mississippi currently has no anti-discrimination laws to protect LGBT people, and the bill passed could allow religious business owners to turn away gay or lesbian customers based on their religious beliefs.

Most Americans believe that these “religious liberty” bills will be struck down by the courts — but the language in Mississippi’s bill cleverly disguised it’s anti-gay language. After the failures in Arizona, Kansas and Idaho, this bill was revised to allow private businesses to refuse service to gay people.

The bill bans authorities from placing a “burden[s] a person’s right to exercise of religion, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability,” unless it’s “essential to further a compelling government interest” and “the least restrictive means” of furthering that interest.

If that sounds confusing, it is. The Mississippi legislature’s intentionally wrote a bill so broad and opaque that no court could possibly quibble with the constitutionality of the text alone.

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