Behold the "Preservation of Religious Freedom Act", Georgia's next entrant in the race to the bottom.
While Arizona's "Turn Away the Gay's Bill" is getting national attention, Georgia's state legislature is quickly pushing a similar bill. As usual, the sponsors say it has everything to do with protecting freedom and nothing to do with codifying hate.
The state's legislative session is moving fast this year and this bill has already cleared it's Senate committee. The House version had it's first hearing Monday.
More below:
Georgia's version of the “Turn Away the Gays” bill is authored by Rep. Sam Teasley (R-Marietta).
Rep. Sam Teasley, (R)
Sponsors claim the bill is needed to protect people and businesses from being forced to do things against their religious beliefs.
Teasley responded to criticism saying:
"My faith teaches me that everyone needs to be treated with dignity and respect, and this law does nothing to change that,"
The Senate version of the bill,
SB 377, sponsored by state Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, has received committee approval but still faces a floor vote.
There has been a smattering of local press. Jay Bookman, one of the few progressive voices at The Atlanta Journal Constitution published this article He noted that the bill's language is so broad that it's real consequences are (or aren't) hard to predict since:
It exempts people and businesses from any government action or legal proceeding that "directly or indirectly constrains, inhibits, curtails, or denies the exercise of religion by any person or that directly or indirectly pressures any person to engage in any action contrary to that person's exercise of religion."
Atlanta based Delta Air Lines, a major employer in Georgia, released the following
statement Tuesday:
“As a global values-based company, Delta Air Lines is proud of the diversity of its customers and employees, and is deeply concerned about proposed measures in several states, including Georgia and Arizona, that would allow businesses to refuse service to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. If passed into law, these proposals would cause significant harm to many people and will result in job losses. They would also violate Delta's core values of mutual respect and dignity shared by our 80,000 employees worldwide and the 165 million customers we serve every year. Delta strongly opposes these measures and we join the business community in urging state officials to reject these proposals."
The bill originally had the "bipartisan support" of two unwitting Democrats who pulled their names off the bill when enlightened on the details of it's contents.