Missouri Democrats nearing 24 hours on filibuster of anti-gay legislation

Missouri Republicans aren’t known for their self-awareness.

After all, wasn’t it their super-majorities in the House and Senate that were supposed to reform ethics among lawmakers, only to have one of their own sent home for good for carrying on an affair that may have occurred at various points in the state capitol?

Maybe Missouri lawmakers were too busy watering down ethics reform legislation to remember the beating Kansas took nationally a couple years ago for pushing legislation that would allow businesses to deny service to gay couples on the account of their religious beliefs. Yep, Shawnee’s Charles Macheers ran that anti-gay bill up the flagpole in 2014, earning Kansas a fresh set of embarrassing national headlines in 2014. 

You know you’ve got a crazy bill on your hands when it took Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle to pull the brakes on it.

Now the Missouri Senate is trying to push a copycat version that legislation. They say it’s not to punish gay couples, but rather to protect the religious sensibilities of business owners who don’t want to see same-sex couples enter their establishments holding hands.

During an ugly period of this nation’s history, people used religion to justify their opposition to interracial marriage. Having lost that fight and having forgotten how the rest of the country regrets that sentient, narrow-minded lawmakers are picking on gay couples. They say it’s to protect religious freedom. Hey Senate Republicans, how’s that religious freedom argument working out, knowing that many of you tried to pass a ban on Sharia law back in 2013?

Missouri Democrats, usually a hapless gang in Jefferson City, are staging an admirable fight to Senate Joint Resolution 39 from advancing. Various Democrats have carried on a filibuster that’s now approaching the 24-hour mark to keep SJR39 at bay.

Senate Republicans are trotting out their usual “this is a shield, not a sword” nonsense to explain away criticisms of SJR39, but reasonable people aren’t buying that crap. Conservatives are unhappy that the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage last year, and so they’re doing what they did post-Roe v. Wade, which is to pass a series of incremental regulations and laws to create a hassle for a group of people they don’t like, whether that’s same-sex couples or women seeking abortions.

Keep it up, Missouri Democrats. It’s about time someone fought a good fight in Jefferson City.