Ellington

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — People couldn't be punished for acting on religious beliefs that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, under a bill advancing in the Mississippi Legislature.

Representatives voted 80-39 Friday to pass House Bill 1523 (http://bit.ly/1Qp06hK ).

It also specifies people couldn't be punished for acting on beliefs that only married people should have sexual relations and that a person's gender identity is set at birth.

Republican Rep. Andy Gipson, a Baptist minister, says the bill doesn't undo the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.

Democratic Rep. Ed Blackmon says the proposal ignores that people are gay or transgender because "God has made them who they are."

The bill could let government clerks refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples and let businesses refuse services for same-sex weddings.