Religious liberty legislation – which would have would have strengthened legal protections for opponents of same-sex marriage – sparked a heated debate in this year's legislative session. So Gov. Nathan Deal's decision to veto it.
Proponents vow to bring it up again next year, so The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked candidates in three contested state House of Representatives races in Gwinnett County where they stand on religious liberty Here’s what they told us. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
District 99 (Norcross area)
Brenda Lopez, Democrat: She supports Deal's veto. "The language (of the bill) is very broad. It didn't just include LGBT communities. (You could discriminate against) anybody where you can provide any explanation of why it affected your religious beliefs."
Jaime "Jay" Trevari, Democrat: "(Deal) did the right thing on that. He tied that into economics. People don't think of how things impact the state economically."
District 105 (Grayson area)
Joyce Chandler, Republican (incumbent): "I voted for (the bill). When I tallied the responses from my district, it was unbelievable the amount of people who wanted me to support that and how few wanted me to vote against it. The last time I tallied, 90 percent said, `support it.' That's a pretty clear dictate to me."
David Crocker, Republican: "We need to pass the current form (of the bill) and get it to the governor first thing in the next session."
Donna McLeod, Democrat: "It's a waste of taxpayer dollars when you want to discriminate against people. We're not going to let you discriminate against people on anything."
Perry Green, Democrat: Did not respond.
District 108 (Lilburn area)
Clay Cox, Republican: "I support the bill."
Patty Gabilondo, Republican: "The Pastor Protection Act passed without any issues. I can support that absolutely. As it went through the process, a lot of things were Christmas-treed on. Let's take small steps and get it right."
Tokhir "T.R." Radjabov, Democrat: "I'm a businessman. Anything that kills jobs, I'm against it. It was quite evident that a lot of people in the business community were very upset (with the bill). We don't need to be upsetting business people."
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