A bill that makes clear no religious leader can be forced to perform a same-sex wedding gets its first hearing by a House panel on Thursday.

House Bill 757, the so-called Pastor Protection Act, will be before a House Judiciary subcommittee at 3 p.m. Thursday in room 132 of the state Capitol.

Proposed by Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, the bill is sponsored by Rep. Kevin Tanner, R-Dawsonville. Ralston has indicated it is the one of several pending bills dealing with religious liberty that he will support.

Read our breakdown of all the related bills and what they would do here.

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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Michael Thurmond spoke to the AJC's Tia Mitchell during a  Politically Georgia forum at The Dogwood at Westside Paper in Atlanta on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Adam Beam/AJC)

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A migrant farmworker harvests Vidalia onions at a farm in Collins, in 2011. A coalition of farmworkers, including one based in Georgia, filed suit last month in federal court arguing that cuts to H-2A wages will trigger a cut in the pay and standard of living of U.S. agricultural workers. (Bita Honarvar/AJC)

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