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A growing Gay Belt along Atlanta’s Northern Arc?

Sen. Greg Kirk (R-Americus) winks and shakes hands after the “religious liberty” bill he sponsored in the Senate passed on March 16. Ben Gray / bgray@ajc.com
Sen. Greg Kirk (R-Americus) winks and shakes hands after the “religious liberty” bill he sponsored in the Senate passed on March 16. Ben Gray / bgray@ajc.com
By
March 23, 2016

The fight concerning the so-called "religious liberty" bills in the Legislature has exposed a somewhat surprising phenomenon: Several north metro Republican lawmakers broke ranks with the herd and voted against the effort.

Do the votes indicate a softening in suburbia? Is there a growing Gay Belt that starts with the new Atlanta Braves stadium and stretches east to Gwinnett?

Cobb County, of course, is the place that formally condemned the "gay lifestyle" just a few years back. But that was then.

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Bill Torpy, who writes about metro Atlanta for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, joined the newspaper in 1990.

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