The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the state of Mississippi over its recent religious liberty law. The law, which goes into effect July 1, protects businesses and government employees who refuse service because of their sincerely held religious beliefs on premarital sex, gender and traditional marriage.

As Casey Harper of The Daily Caller News Foundation reports:

The Mississippi law, HB 1523, specifically says that people can refuse service based on their belief that sex belongs within marriage, that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and that gender corresponds with your anatomical gender at birth. Hypothetically, the bill would protect florists who refused to service gay weddings or government employees like Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who would not issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple citing her religious beliefs. Republicans and Democrats have argued over how far the bill’s language allows the refusal of service to go.

“We’re stepping up to fight this sweeping anti-LGBT and unconstitutional law that authorizes discrimination against gay and transgender people,” ACLU staff attorney Josh Block said in a statement. “HB 1523 has no rightful place in Mississippi or in our history books, and we’re hopeful this lawsuit can stop as much of it as possible before it goes into effect. We won’t rest until every last piece of this law is struck down and all LGBT people in Mississippi have equal justice under the law.”

“This extremely narrow bill prevents the government from forcing any person to violate their freedom of conscience — nothing more, nothing less.” Rep. Andy Gipson

Plaintiffs Nykolas Alford and Stephen Thomas say the law subjects them to discrimination. The Jackson Free Press reports the couple is engaged and plans to marry after they graduate from college. In a press conference Monday, Thomas admitted the couple has yet to face direct discrimination because of the law. “Part of the reason we are here is so that no one else has to face that discrimination,” Thomas said. “We haven’t faced it and that is a blessing in and of itself. This law allows for people — I can’t say it enough — to discriminate because of who we are, so this is us speaking up for people who haven’t found their voice yet.”

Mississippi state Rep. Andy Gipson defended the law in a Jackson Free Press op-ed.

This extremely narrow bill prevents the government from forcing any person to violate their freedom of conscience — nothing more, nothing less.

The stated objections to HB 1523 are that it will allow people to “deny services” to certain people. That is simply not true, unless the specific services requested are related to and would violate a person’s sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage or gender. In fact, HB 1523 doesn’t mandate that any citizen or entity do or refuse to do anything. It does mandate that the government will not punish citizens or faith-based entities for acting or choosing not to act in accordance with their convictions.

The ACLU lawsuit against Mississippi comes the same day that North Carolina’s Gov. Pat McCrory sued the federal government to protect that state’s controversial bathroom privacy law in the wake of a Justice Department threat to deny North Carolina billions in federal funding. President Obama’s Justice Department has now responded by saying it is suing North Carolina.