This week Mississippi passed their own religious freedom bill, House Bill 1523, which has been repeatedly dubbed the ‘horrific anti-LGBT law’ in the media with promises to make the lives of LGBT citizens an oppressive living nightmare. Naturally, like all other religious freedom bills in the country, LGBT citizens are not even involved, let alone discriminated against. But the narrative cry is so loud no one is capable of grasping this simple and logical point. As with North Carolina and Georgia, Mississippi is being threatened with federal funding withdraws and many large companies ranging from Disney to PayPal have declared they will not do business in the state any longer. Several states have also halted official state-funded travel to the offending states.

The left, of course, believes this kind of intimidation will force the hand of the governors to back down on their respective laws, and they are likely correct. Withstanding the tsunami of liberal outrage is a challenge few in any officials can handle. The boycotts will continue and the left will grow more outraged and more dramatic. Sobbing and terrified LGBTers will continue cranking out article after article detailing their imagined discrimination while absolutely none ever occurs. Uninformed average people will imagine restaurants putting up ‘no gays allowed’ signs and ambulances turning away transgender people dying in the streets, regardless of the truth of the situation.

Despite the nonsense we are sure to be inundated with daily for years and pending any lawsuits reversing it, this is actually a remarkable opportunity for each state involved. The silver lining to this situation is that each state may possibly get to protect its citizen’s religious liberties and grow a more independent economy built on local business. What happens when large corporations pull out of the state? Well, liberals imagine that without the good graces of say, PayPal, the economy of the state will suffer. This is not necessarily true, however, if the state generates its own alternative. As each large business removes itself, room is opened for smaller and local businesses to begin growing. Jobs are not given to us by the government or by benevolent corporate giants. They can be grown from the ground up.

Since no one is actually going to experience discrimination, there really is no fear of citizen’s civil rights being violated. However, with the promised exodus of liberals it provides an opportunity to fill elected seats with rational people not swayed by propaganda. Liberals threatening to leave only opens up room for those who wish to take a more reasonable approach to local and statewide government. This is true as well if the federal government chooses to withhold funding. States rely too much on federal funding as it is. This gives the federal government too much influence. If the state can stand on its own, generate its own revenue and build its own economy the federal government has less to manipulate.  

The truth is the only people wishing to impose their beliefs on others are leftists. While a Christian business may choose to deny services for an event, they have no interest in denying service to an individual. Transgender people have been using public restrooms without issue since the 1960s and there is no reason anyone should expect their personal sense of gender to override the natural inclinations of others to use the correct bathroom in public. Transgender people are simply not going to be discriminated against and those who feel they will be fall under the ‘no shoes, no service’ concept of appropriate social behavior and expectations. No one involved on the right has even proposed criminalizing or limiting transgender freedoms or liberty and certainly no one cares if a gay person buys from their shop. People simply do not want to be bullied into participating in events or concepts they deeply oppose and no one wants their daughter in the same bathroom with a man who believes wearing a dress and a wig makes him a woman.

Could the state fail? Absolutely. We all rely too much on others to keep us afloat at the state level these days. But is this a good opportunity to stretch our collective independent muscles? Very possibly. Perhaps once the citizens experience a slight separation from the federal government they will want more. We don’t need huge corporations to fund us or give us jobs and the less space they take up the more you and I can fill with our own industry. The progressive snobs can feel superior and righteous for boycotting what they obviously don’t understand but feel passionate about anyway and the citizens of the state can be free from their overbearing presence. It’s a win-win. Ironically the businesses in question are engaging in the exact kind of protest the laws they are protesting protect, but regardless it is their choice.

Businesses have the right to boycott and pull out. Individuals have the right to refuse to spend their money for any reason they feel is important. A state does not need to pay for travel to other states. Protest is perfectly acceptable even if it is over something utterly nonsensical. The point is to enjoy freedom; not convenience. If the people of North Carolina, Mississippi and hopefully Georgia can appreciate that, they will be better off.

I am a gay man, but I have no fear of religious freedom laws. In fact, I fully and enthusiastically support them. I think it is time to send an important message about independence and self-governance. Want the federal government to stop holding their funding over your head? Want big overbearing businesses to leave you be so you can grow your own industries? Want obnoxious liberals to pack up and leave for more progressive states? Want to be more in charge of your own laws, your own economy and your own path with less interference overall? Pass more ‘anti-LGBT’ laws. Regardless of their true intent and actual outcome it seems they are remarkably effective methods of clearing out the progressive clutter and if you can stand tall without backing down, just may leave you with a fresh and clean start to better independence and freedom.

Chad Felix Greene (@Chadfelixg), author of Jewish Children’s Books, Non–Fiction, and Social Commentary

www.reasonablygay.com