H.B. 1523 Sparks Mississippi Filmmaker

Can you imagine the Bill Murray classic Groundhog Day, filtered through the prism of Mississippi's controversial H.B. 1523 law? Gulf Coast writer-director Tammy Devin can, and will.

Per a piece in the Long Beach Sun Herald, here is the storyline plan for her short Meanwhile in Mississippi:

"It's about a young couple living on the Coast where everyone is getting along - the Coast that I've experienced - and the bill is passed and every day they wake up, the bill is passed again based on a different religion," she said. "It goes from excitement to fear and in the end, it's deadly chaos."

H.B. 1523 , a.k.a. the Religious Liberty Accommodations Act, protects the right of businesses and residents to deny services to LGBTQ individuals, single mothers, unwed couples and others. It is set to go into effect July 1st, with protests having taken place both locally and well beyond the state's borders.



Devin is raising money on Indiegogo and told the Sun Herald she has already arranged to make use in her film of "Mississippi Blues," a song by the Rochelle Harper Band. Harper was set to perform that number next weekend in New York at the 37th Annual Mississippi Picnic in Central Park, but the event was canceled over fears that it would be disrupted by protests.