And they aren’t showing any signs of stopping.
On Monday at 4 pm, Missouri Senate Democrats began to filibuster against a bill which would amend the state’s constitution to officially prohibit the penalization of “clergy, religious organizations, and certain individuals for their religious beliefs concerning marriage between two people of the same sex.”
The bill, which would make it legal for, say, a florist to refuse to provide arrangements for a same-sex wedding, was condemned by the eight-member Democratic caucus as discriminatory.
“A lot of the arguments I’m hearing of proponents of this bill harken back to the same arguments we heard back in 1964 when people were fighting for segregation in Mississippi,” State sen. Jason Holsman (D-Kansas City) said to the Kansas City Star. “I see a mean-spirited attempt to try to make the laws apply differently to me than they do to you.”
Now, the filibuster has been going on for over 20 hours, much of which has been led by state Sen. Maria Chapelle Nadal. Nadal recently said she wanted to break the 27 hour state filibuster record and get to 30.
According to KC Star reporter Jason Hancock, the Senate has canceled all upcoming hearings:
Hancock also reports that state Sen. Holsman’s wife called him to see how long the filibuster would continue. He told her “Thursday or beyond.”
Meanwhile, Republicans have been tweeting from the dais:
You can listen to the filibuster live here.
Contact the author at joanna@jezebel.com.
Image via Henryk Sadura/Shutterstock.