A historic 39-hour filibuster by Democratic lawmakers against anti-gay legislation in the Missouri State Senate ended on Wednesday after Republicans forced a preliminary vote on the bill, which passed 23-9.
A final vote is expected Thursday before Senate Joint Resolution 39 moves to the House for further action.
“This is a major scarring of equality in Missouri,” said Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a leader of the filibuster, following the vote. “We are living in an environment where hatred is alive, and we as a caucus are not going to tolerate it.”
The resolution, introduced by Republican Sen. Bob Onder, prohibits the state from “penalizing clergy, religious organizations, and certain individuals for their religious beliefs concerning marriage between two people of the same sex.”
ACLU-MO executive director Jeffrey Mittman said the bill would in fact “enshrine discrimination in our state constitution by allowing taxpayer-funded organizations like adoption and foster care agencies and homeless shelters to refuse serving LGBT families, in addition to countless other harmful consequences.”
Democrats launched their filibuster at around 4:00pm Monday and continued until Republicans called for a break around 5:00am Wednesday, gaining increasing national coverage and support from presidential candidates along the way as they discussed a range of meandering topics, including “other bills, Donald Trump, slick roads, soft drink ads in foreign countries, and ‘Jesus sightings’ in foreign objects,” Missouri public radio reported.
According to the New York Times, there was also talk of “Tyler Perry movies, Jews who eat pork, even which shoes they should have worn.”
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