Same-sex marriage resolution not on Cape Chamber's agenda

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday announced its opposition of Missouri Senate Joint Resolution 39, better known as the religious-objections bill. Other regional chambers, such as the St. Louis Regional Chamber of Commerce and Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, also recently have announced opposition to the resolution.

The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce does not have a stance on the Senate resolution.

“That particular piece of legislation was not on our legislative agenda,” John Mehner, president and CEO of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce said. “The board has not looked at it, considered it, talked about it, or anything else.”

The proposed constitutional amendment prohibits the state of Missouri from imposing a penalty on a religious organization that acts in accordance with a sincere religious belief about same-sex marriage. This includes the refusal to perform a same-sex marriage ceremony, or allow such a ceremony to be performed on the religious organization’s property.

In addition, the state cannot penalize a person who declines to provide goods and services for such a ceremony due to their religious beliefs.

Karen Buschmann, vice president of communications at the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, said local chambers tend not to get involved in political issues.

“Some of them do. The larger ones do. But many do not,” she said.

Buschmann said this is because it often takes a long time for local chambers to get board approvals on such positions.

Mehner said the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce is focusing on job training and securing innovation money for the city, rather than the bill. Mehner said the chamber is concerned with more budget-related issues.

“Training dollars are extremely important to us, because those are used by our local businesses to develop workforce,” Mehner said.

In addition, he spoke about the Missouri Technology Corp. and the chamber’s efforts to collaborate with the organization.

“It’s something that we’ve been able to work with and bring some money to the area for that. So that’s another item we’re extremely interested in from a budget standpoint,” Mehner said. “Those are the things we’ve been working on right now.”

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