The temperature surrounding the debate over gay marriage and its consequences may have just dropped by a degree or two.
Last night, state Sen. Greg Kirk, R-Americus, appeared on GPB’s “The Lawmakers,” hosted by Bill Nigut. I was there, too.
Kirk was there to talk about his plans to drop a bill next week patterned somewhat after a proposed federal First Amendment Defense Act.
The Washington version, backed by the likes of U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and David Perdue, would offer certain protections – involving tax exempt status, job discrimination, charitable donations and the like – to religious institutions that refuse to recognize the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision sanctioning same-sex marriage.
But Kirk's state version would also offer protections to county employees in Georgia who issue marriage licenses – a la Kim Davis in Kentucky.
Kirk emphasized that licenses to same-sex couples would be issued in the end. If one clerk refused, then another would do the issuing. If all clerks refused, then under his bill, the county probate judge would be obliged to perform the task.
We pressed Kirk on whether or how other public employees might be covered – a state revenue bureaucrat who processes joint tax returns, for instance. But the senator from Americus declined to get more specific.
So it was worth pestering Senate President pro tem David Shafer on the topic this afternoon. The No. 2 ranking leader of the chamber was pretty direct. “Public employees should carry out their job responsibilities, and if that requires issuing marriage licenses, they should issue marriage licenses,” Shafer said.
“My concern is not with public employees, but with non-profit organizations -- schools and adoption agencies whose sponsoring churches hold to the traditional view of marriage,” he said. "I do not want to see them shut down or their good work criminalized.”
Shafer remains a supporter of S.B. 129, the "religious liberty" bill authored by state Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus. As we said, Kirk's legislation is to be dropped next week. We'll be watching to see whether he absorbs any of Shafer's concerns.
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