Jackson Free Press

On Flag Day at its annual meeting, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution that calls on all Southern Baptist churches and 'brothers and sisters in Christ' to not display the Confederate battle flag.

The convention passed a resolution that said, "we call our brothers and sisters in Christ to discontinue the display of the Confederate battle flag as a sign of solidarity of the whole Body of Christ, including our African-American brothers and sisters."

"We recognize that the Confederate battle flag is used by some and perceived by many as a symbol of hatred, bigotry, and racism, offending millions of people..." the resolution says. "We recognize that, while the removal of the Confederate battle flag from public display is not going to solve the most severe racial tensions that plague our nation and churches, those professing Christ are called to extend grace and put the consciences of others ahead of their own interests and actions."

Russell Moore, president of the convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and a native Mississippian, has spoken out against Mississippi's state flag previously and reiterated his stance in a blog post this week.

"As I’ve said before, the Cross and the Confederate flag cannot co-exist without one setting the other on fire," Moore wrote. "Today, messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, including many white Anglo southerners, decided the cross was more important than the flag. They decided our African-American brothers and sisters are more important than family heritage. We decided that we are defined not by a Lost Cause but by amazing grace. Let’s pray for wisdom, work for justice, love our neighbors.

And let’s take down that flag."

The Human Rights Campaign just released this verbatim statement:

JACKSON, Miss. -- Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Mississippi hailed the Jackson, Mississippi City Council for voting to advance city-wide non-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, public accommodations and employment. Passed by a 7-0 vote, the measure also expands the city’s hate crimes statute to include tougher penalties for perpetrators who commit crimes motivated by the victim's real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

“As the LGBTQ community grapples with the horrific massacre in Orlando, it is truly encouraging to see the Jackson City Council taking decisive action to protect and affirm the rights of all their citizens,” said HRC Mississippi State Director Rob Hill. “Discrimination and hate have no place in Jackson, and everyone, regardless of who they are, should have the legal right to feel safe in their community. We thank Councilman Tyrone Hendrix for his continued leadership on issues of equality, and are confident that the Council’s actions will serve as an example to communities across the country.”

Today’s vote comes just days after a tragic shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, claimed the lives of 49 people and injured more than 50 others. While that crime has not yet been labeled a hate crime, according to the most recent FBI statistics available, more than 20 percent of hate crimes reported nationally in 2014 targeted people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. As a recent investigation by the Associated Press uncovered, this reporting dramatically undercounts LGBTQ data, as it is based on local, non-mandatory reporting. Strong, fully-inclusive hate crimes legislation at the local level plays an important role in improving data collection and ultimately saving lives.

Mississippi is one of 20 states that do not have hate crimes laws explicitly protecting sexual orientation and gender identity, and one of 32 without fully-inclusive LGBTQ non-discrimination protections.

Jackson his been leading on the issue of LGBTQ equality. Earlier this year, the Jackson Public School District’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted to extend fully-inclusive sexual orientation and gender identity workplace protections to their employees. With almost 30,000 students, the district is the second largest in the state and one of the first in the Mississippi Public School system o grant employment protections to LGBTQ staff members.

In 2014, HRC launched Project One America, an initiative geared towards advancing social, institutional and legal equality in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. HRC Mississippi continues to work to advance equality for LGBT Mississippians who have no state level protections in housing, workplace, or public accommodations. Through HRC Mississippi, we are working toward a future of fairness every day—changing hearts, minds and laws toward achieving full equality.

Major League Baseball held its annual draft last Thursday through Saturday. Teams can select players from high school after graduation or four-year colleges after they have completed their junior season or are 21 years old.

Teams can draft junior- and community-college players at anytime, so long as they’re residents of the United States or U.S. territories.

High-school players don’t have to sign with the team that drafted them and can attend college instead of going pro, but they must sign by July 15. Juniors can return to college as well instead of signing with an MLB club, but they have the same July 15 deadline to sign a contract.

The 2016 MLB Draft consisted of 40 rounds with a lottery round after round one and after round two. There were 1,216 picks in this year’s draft.

Below are the players who teams drafted. If we missed any players, feel free to add them in the comments section.

Mississippi State University Bulldogs

Dakota Hudson,pitcher, first round, 34th pick, St. Louis Cardinals

Reid Humphreys, pitcher, seventh round, 200th pick, Colorado Rockies

Daniel Brown, pitcher, seventh round, 201st pick, Milwaukee Brewers

Jacob Robinson, centerfielder, eighth round, 235th pick, Detroit Tigers

Zachary Houston, pitcher, 11th round, 325th pick, Detroit Tigers

Nathaniel Lowe, first base, 13th round, 390th pick, Tampa Bay Rays

Gavin Collins, catcher, 13th round, 392nd pick, Cleveland Indians

Vance Tatum, pitcher, 18th round, 553rd pick, Kansas City Royals

Austin Sexton, pitcher, 18th round, 556th pick, St. Louis Cardinals

Jack Kruger, catcher, 20th round, 606th pick, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Brent Rooker, rightfielder, 38th round, 1,143rd pick, Minnesota Twins

University of Mississippi Rebels

J.B. Woodman, outfielder, second round, 57th pick, Toronto Blue Jays

Errol Robinson, shortstop, sixth round, 191st pick, Los Angeles Dodgers

Henri Lartigue, catcher, seventh round, 197th pick, Philadelphia Phillies

Chad Smith, pitcher, 11th round, 323rd pick, Miami Marlins

Brady Bramlett, pitcher, 13th round, 388th pick, Boston Red Sox

Wyatt Short, pitcher, 13th round, 404th pick, Chicago Cubs

University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles

Tim Lynch, first base, ninth round, 278th pick, New York Yankees

Jake Winston, pitcher, 17th round, 509th pick, Arizona Diamondbacks

Chuckie Robinson, catcher, 21st round, 637th pick, Houston Astros

Delta State University Statesmen

Dalton Moats, pitcher, 15th round, 450th pick, Tampa Bay Rays

Jacob Howell, pitcher, 21st round, 634th pick, Washington Nationals

Pearl River Community College Wildcats

Zachary Clark, centerfielder, 19th round, 561st pick, Milwaukee Brewers

Itawamba Community College Indians

Delvin Zinn, shortstop, 23rd round, 704th pick, Chicago Cubs

High-school players

Walker Robbins, George County High School, outfielder, fifth round, 166th pick, St. Louis Cardinals

AJ Brown, Starkville High School, centerfielder, 19th round, 564th pick, San Diego Padres

Grae Kessinger, Oxford High School, shortstop, 26th round, 774th pick, San Diego Padres

Dustin Skelton, Magnolia Heights High School, catcher, 36th round, 1,092nd pick, Toronto Blue Jays

Mississippi ties

Nolan Blackwood, University of Memphis Tigers, Southaven High School (Miss.), pitcher, 14th round, 412th pick, Oakland Athletics …

The Campaign for Southern Equality and Mississippi-native Rev. Susan Hrostowski filed a lawsuit against several state officials, saying that House Bill 1523 is unconstitutional, late last week.

The lawsuit states that House Bill 1523 violates the first and fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution and asks the U.S. District Court to enjoin the bill from becoming law on July 1. New York-based attorney Roberta Kaplan, who won same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt in this state, will represent the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit names the governor, attorney general, the executive director of MDHS, and the state registrar for vital records as defendants. Several floor debate comments from the 2016 legislative session about the bill are used in the initial complaint. The complaint draws the distinction between Mississippi's Religious Freedom Restoration Act and The Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act.

"Critically, the Mississippi RFRA does not single out any particular religious belief or creed and privilege it above all others..." the complaint says. "HB 1523, however, starkly departs from this tradition and practice by providing additional rights and benefits and by extending well beyond those available under RFRA, but only to individuals or entities that espouse one of three specific beliefs: (a) that '[m]arriage is or should be recognized as union of one man and one woman,' (b) that '[s]exual relations are properly reserved to' a marriage between one man and one woman, or (c) male and female 'refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at the time of birth.'"

The ACLU and the Mississippi Center for Justice have both filed lawsuits, asking the courts to rule House Bill 1523 unconstitutional, and Kaplan filed a motion to re-open the case that legalized same-sex marriage in Mississippi, due to HB1523's passage. The Campaign for Southern Equality's lawsuit is the third lawsuit filed against House Bill 1523 and the fourth legal challenge.