Hundreds of “religious liberty” backers rallied Tuesday at the Georgia Capitol, saying they wanted to prevent government intrusion on their faith-based beliefs even as clergy from across the state denounced the effort as wrongheaded and dangerous.
The conspicuous show of force comes as lawmakers this week began debate for the year, their agendas already full of controversial issues that may keep them at work into April. Now comes an emotional firecracker that will likely draw headlines across the nation, as it did a year ago when similar efforts failed.
“I really feel the reputation of Georgia is on the line,” said Jeff Graham, the executive director of Georgia Equality.
House Bill 29, sponsored by state Rep. Sam Teasley, R-Marietta, seeks to write religious expression into state law — beyond those already contained in both the U.S. and state constitutions. The idea hit home recently for many supporters with the firing of Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, who lost his job over actions related to a self-published religious book that many construed as anti-gay.
Teasley, who did not attend Tuesday’s rally, has said the bill would apply only to government and not, say, a small business owner who refuses service to a customer.
That distinction appears to have appeased Gov. Nathan Deal, who for the first time Tuesday said that distinction “would probably ameliorate some of the concerns” that the bill would essentially legalize a form of discrimination.
“I personally do not think that the adoption of such a law would have the negative impacts that many people portrayed it would have,” Deal said.
“Religious liberty” backers are basing their effort on federal legislation passed by Congress in 1993 and signed by President Bill Clinton. It asserts that government has to show a compelling interest for why its policy should override an individual’s religious freedom. In the years since, 18 states have adopted their own version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and nearly a dozen others have adopted the same legal standard through court decisions.
Georgia’s powerful business community, however, has already issued a warning over efforts to revive the legislation, which it helped defeat last year after hometown heavyweights Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines and Home Depot all spoke out against it.
The issue flared here last year in the wake of national attention over lawsuits against businesses that refused to provide goods or services for gay weddings or gay advocacy groups.
Critics say its passage, regardless of Teasley’s intentions, would open the door for private business owners to discriminate against gays and other minorities — by citing religious beliefs — and make the Peach State a national laughingstock and economic pariah.
When the issue sparked up last year in Arizona, Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed similar legislation that had brought widespread condemnation along with the possible loss of this year’s Super Bowl.
Georgia’s business community isn’t the one concerned about the current push to pass HB 29. In the hours before Tuesday’s rally, more than 60 clergy from across Georgia announced they opposed it and urged proponents to instead open a dialogue with groups different from themselves. Coalition representatives said lawmakers should not invest themselves in controversial or discriminatory legislation.
“There is absolutely no evidence our religious rights are currently being circumvented,” said Rabbi Peter Berg of The Temple synagogue in Atlanta. “The faith community did not ask for this bill, and the faith community does not want this bill.”
Advocates also worry about unintended consequences. One of those concerns centers on the bill’s focus on government without specifically excluding corporations — which, some say, could still allow them to cite it under current law and legal precedent.
Additionally, its focus on government employees “opens up the door on all levels to withholding essential government services to those who they feel don’t reflect their religious views” — such as a city clerk who doesn’t want to issue a homestead exemption to a same-sex couple, said Graham, whose organization supports the state’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities.
Proponents buy none of that.
“We don’t want to condemn anyone’s lifestyle, but we want to express our faith openly in every arena of life,” said William Powell, 27, one of many at the rally Tuesday with red-white-and-blue signs reading: “Standing for our Faith, Religious Freedom, & Freedom of Speech.”
With lawmakers scattered throughout the crowd, representatives of groups including the Georgia Baptist Convention and the national Family Research Council urged proponents to speak up against what they framed as a freedom of speech issue.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has framed Cochran’s firing as a personnel issue related to judgment, not religion. Still, each speaker Tuesday held a Bible aloft as he or she proclaimed the mayor made a major mistake — and that the state needed new protections for the faithful.
Cochran, who attended the rally, said his dismissal will have a chilling effect across government. He also said it taught him that “there are grave consequences for publicly expressing my faith and having the audacity to state that sex was created for procreation and should be kept within the bonds of holy matrimony.”
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