More and more anti-LGBT laws seem to be emerging lately. North Carolina banning transgender people from bathrooms that align with their gender identity, Georgia’s “religious faith” bill that would allow business owners to discriminate against customers based on their sexuality, to Mississippi’s House Bill 1523 (HB 1532).

This new law allows businesses and religious organizations to refuse LGBT customers if they are acting on their religious beliefs, beliefs that include, but are not limited to, premarital sex being wrong, one man/one woman marriage, biology determines gender, and imposing religion on children.

There are numerous things wrong with this law. The government should never promote hate or dictate one’s lifestyle. Sexual intercourse is a personal choice and the government has no business interfering with it.

The one man/one woman marriage bit is extremely upsetting. The LGBT community’s victory in the Supreme Court back in June 2015 but that progress is now being eroded. Laws such as these should never have even been proposed. LGBT citizens should have the same rights as everyone else.

Gender cannot be determined by biology. Not only does this ignore the realities of intersex people, but is horribly transphobic and erases nonbinary individuals. There is no reason that the “land of the free” should be legalizing discrimination.

The religious freedom that HB 1532 claims to protect is being violated. By allowing parents or guardians to impose their beliefs on their children, the child’s right to religious freedom is being violated. Religious freedom is not a license for bigotry. Just like North Carolina’s anti-trans law, HB 1532 goes against the very values of the United States.

The trouble isn’t just inside U.S. borders. In Saudi Arabia, lawmakers are considering passing a bill that would make coming out as gay online a crime punishable by death. Homosexuality is already punishable by jail time in Saudi Arabia.

The government has a history of finding gays online by posing as potential suitors on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

An unnamed man fell into this trap back in July 2014. He was arrested and sentenced to “three years in jail and 450 lashes” according to Jack Simpson of the online publication “Independent”.

Saudi police have also been known to raid parties that gay men are suspected of attending. “Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested several people in the Red Sea city of Jeddah following raids on two parties in which most participants were homosexuals,” journalist Habib Toumi reported in their article “Saudi Arabia bust two gay parties” on gulfnews.com.

The intolerance and hatred of the LGBT community must be put to a stop. No one should be the victim of discrimination because of their identity. Events such as these are a violation of human rights.