Mississippi’s big issues need big attention

The Sun Herald’s editorial Friday on the 5th Circuit’s decision on House Bill 1523 was excellent.

I especially appreciate the point about the many problems Mississippi faces, and they much better deserve the attention and energy the governor and Legislature have expended on legalizing discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

Mississippi’s problems — failing schools, high unemployment and egregious poverty in some areas, low wages, lack of adequate health care for many, hunger, high infant mortality, high rates of teen pregnancy, and so on — have severe impacts on a large proportion of Mississippians, and yet our government sees fit to ignore them, meanwhile quixotically flying in the face of the establishment clause of our Constitution.

Mississippi deserves better than this.

This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 4:45 AM with the headline "Mississippi’s big issues need big attention."