Jackson Free Press

Last year, after the Mississippi Legislature passed an odious so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act that had the potential to open the door to discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, several municipalities, including Jackson, passed resolutions affirming the human dignity of all city dwellers.

Those resolutions, a half dozen in all, were nice symbolic gestures and badly needed first steps toward doing what federal and state lawmakers have shown no will to do, which is to send a message to minority groups that they do not have to live in fear. Each of us who is familiar with Mississippi's history of violent intolerance knows that there is plenty left to fear.

It took four years for the federal government to conclude its case against the 10 white defendants charged in connection with the murder of James Craig Anderson—who would have turned 54 this week—and months of racially motivated night rides prior to Anderson's chilling death.

And while the federal government historically has been, even if marginally, a bit more forward thinking than deep southern states, LGBT people still lack status as a protected class similar to that of racial and ethnic minorities. Legal scholars will argue whether last week's ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court inches us closer to strengthening the constitutional rights of LGBT, but in the meantime, minorities remain vulnerable.

This is especially true in Mississippi, where our hate-crime law considers only a victim's "perceived race, color, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin or gender" as motivation for an alleged crime; gender identity and sexual orientation are not included.

Furthermore, hate-crime statistics reporting to the Federal Bureau of Investigation is voluntary, and many local governments lack firm guidelines on how to record and report hate crimes. To that end, we applaud Jackson City Council President De'Keither Stamps for building on last year's diversity resolution with an ordinance that requires the mayor and police chief to train officers to identify and report hate crimes in the city.

That measure passed June 30 and will take effect by Aug. 1. The action could not have been more timely, coming amidst the nation grieving the deaths of nine church members in South Carolina in a suspected hate crime and subsequent reports of church burnings in five southern states. With the Supreme Court removing the last obstacles to same-sex marriage, authorities must remain vigilant against any hateful backlash to the ruling.

Jackson's ordinance will not only help protect citizens, but will also hold authorities accountable for investigating and reporting alleged hate crimes in the capital city. Now that Jackson has taken this step, we hope to inspire other cities to do the same.

When the Legislature reconvenes in January, lawmakers should strengthen the state's hate-crime law by extending protections to LGBT people and developing uniform reporting standards for all law enforcement agencies.

Given the climate in our nation and our state, doing so is a matter of moral necessity.