The coalition of business interests and gay rights activists that wants to halt the "religious liberty" effort this year may not be able to rely on Gov. Nathan Deal to take a front-and-center role in navigating the debate.
"I have made my position clear to those that are interested. I think that's really a legislative issue," he said on the eve of the legislative session. "And I'm going to let them play it out."
The governor has at times pointedly told supporters the measure is not on his agenda but also, at other times, called for its passage if it adheres to federal language that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1993.
In September, he urged lawmakers to model the proposal on that 1993 language, which does not include the anti-discrimination clause that many critics have said is essential to prevent the legislation from being used as an excuse to discriminate against gays now that same-sex marriage is legal.
That model, he said back then, "has not produced the kinds of catastrophic results that maybe both sides are predicting that legislation of that type would do."
That's the version embraced by state Sen. Josh McKoon, the measure's sponsor, and many rank-and-file activists for the Georgia GOP, whose thousands of delegates strongly supported the measure at the party’s May convention.
Any version of the legislation without the anti-discrimination legislation is a non-starter to its critics. They worry that cutting it out of the legislation would spark the same embarrassing backlash that bogged down similar measures in Arkansas and Indiana.
They have spent months seeking support from business leaders and formed a new coalition of business groups to fight the proposal. And they've highlighted the story of Democrat Taylor Bennett, an opponent of the legislation who won an upset victory against a Republican in a conservative-leaning northeast Atlanta House district.
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