Like the owners of an Indiana pizzeria, several Georgia florists told CNN recently they would refuse service to same-sex couples if the state legislature passes SB 129, a long-gestating "religious liberty" bill.
"I would respectfully tell them that I'm sorry, that I just don't want to do it because of my beliefs," Melissa Jeffcoat, a flower shop employee in south Georgia's Jeff Davis County, told CNN's Gary Tuchman in a segment published Wednesday.
Jeffcoat's son, who is studying to be a Southern Baptist pastor, agreed: "I serve a God who's higher than any Supreme Court judge."
This echoes similar sentiments by the owners of Memories Pizza, in Walkerton, Ind., who told a local TV station they would refuse to cater same-sex wedding after Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed into law a bill similar to the one being considered in Georgia. Those comments kicked up a storm of controversy. Pence later called on lawmakers to "clarify" the bill.
Supporters of such legislation say it is modeled off of similar state and federal laws, including one signed by President Bill Clinton in the early '90s, and is intended to prevent the government from "unduly burdening" religious practice by individuals or corporations without compelling interest and without demonstrating that its methods are not intrusive.
But critics of this kind of legislation have argued that it will allow discrimination in the guise of "religious liberty" — and they point to these kinds of comments by businessowners. (Legal experts told Vox that such perceived ambiguity in these RIFA laws, though a cultural flashpoint, has never successfully been used to allow discrimination, including against LGBT people.)
CNN's Tuchman spoke with five flower shop employees for his segment. He said they each voiced similar opinions: The law should pass; and with it, they would be allowed to refuse service to same-sex couples.
"It doesn't mean that I love them any less, because I don't," employee Jennifer Williams said. "I pray for them ... I don't hate them.
"You can still love someone even though you don't serve them," she said.
The Georgia bill has faced intense scrutiny and discussion from all sides and looks unlikely to pass during this legislation session. Today is Sine Die, or the session's final day for a bill to pass both legislative chambers and be sent to the governor.
But as the AJC's Jim Galloway wrote, "The issue will live on. Because Southern Baptists, who have been at the heart of this year's religious liberty push in the Legislature, are also the heart of the evangelical Christian wing of the Republican party — especially in the all-important South."
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