‘Religious liberty’ measure passes Georgia Senate

[Hosnon]

Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution

"Religious liberty" legislation easily passed the Georgia Senate on Thursday, keeping the measure alive with only 13 days left in the legislative session.

The proposal has been at the center of one of the fiercest debates at the Capitol this year, with supporters casting it as a new line of defense to protect people of any religion from interference. Opponents warn it’s a discriminatory end run on the First Amendment that could allow business owners to cite religious beliefs to deny people service.

Read more: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/religious-liberty-measure-passes-georgia-senate/nkPX3/

[RKP5637]

1. GOP, working hard to bring even more inequality to the United States in so many ways! n/t

[lancer78]

14. More like

GOP, working hard to bring religious "Sharia" law to America.

[RKP5637]

16. Quite true! Definitely they have now morphed into that! n/t

[workinclasszero]

37. You got that right

And they can't wait to start stoning gays to death and burning books etc.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. Yep, that's my Georgia! This will cost dearly.

[shenmue]

3. Because "Hi, we're shitty people full of hate"

is hard to fit on a sticker.

[RKP5637]

6. Welcome to Georgia, please excuse the smell, we're just shit full of hatred, let us pray! n/t

[kestrel91316]

4. My religious beliefs require me to deny fundamentalist Christians service.

Howdya like them apples?

[RKP5637]

5. Throw them to the lions!!! n/t

[Gore1FL]

8. Just give those who renounce Christ a discount.

It's sort of a win/win then.

[awoke_in_2003]

24. Quit persecuting christians

[BlancheSplanchnik]

27. non-christofascists should definitely do this.

Twitter it, blog it, make it viral so more people will be encouraged to protect their rights.

Pukes don't back down unless their shit boomerangs back in their doughy, sweaty, wall-eyed faces.

[msongs]

7. I look forward to public condemations of these events by hillary and obama nt

[Roland99]

9. The great lashing out by the cornered, propertied, entitled white man

[RKP5637]

10. Here we go again, 21st Century, ever so backward!

[blkmusclmachine]

20. More like this:

THE PRESIDENT'S PRAYER BREAKFAST, CIRCA 1961, ORGNAIZED BY "THE FAMILY"/"THE FELLOWSHIP"

[RKP5637]

21. Separation of church and state, yeah, right! They make a mockery of the founding of this

country.

[Thespian2]

11. My home state

is led by a group of religious cretins.

[RT Atlanta]

15. And a bunch of cowards

It frustrates me to no end these cowards, who are so God-damned concerned and 'skeerd' about their own religion can not only bring these pseudo-bills up in committee, but then have the bills advance through the legislative process due to the 'puke echo chamber rubber stamp that exists here.

I will say it again: republicans are masters at convincing poor/lower middle class to vote against their own personal interests by chumming the waters with hatred, guns, gays & threats to their own brand of fanaticism for Jeezus.

Thanks for letting my first post on DU in a A LONG time be a soap box rant.

Better days are still ahead for Georgia - the home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Jimmy Carter.

Onward....

[Thespian2]

17. Right On, Brother!

[DonCoquixote]

12. Atlanta might be a fine city

But new corporations will not want to got here now, and old ones just love the smell of Chinese money (ask IBM).

[Plucketeer]

13. Left there in '81 and have never looked back.

Only thing I miss about Georgia is the bass fishin'.

[blkmusclmachine]

18. Christo-fascism:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

[christx30]

19. Denying business to gays is incredibly stupid.

Who cares if Joe and Mike want to get married? It's not about you! It's about them! No one is saying that you have to participate. No one is saying that YOU have to recognize the marriage. You didn't care when my wife and I got married. You didn't even know it happened. It's not about you. Just make the floral arrangement. Bake the cake. Make some money and forget you ever met them.

[YOHABLO]

22. "...a new line of defense to protect people of any religion from interference"

they mean Christians. Interference from whom? Queers, Muslims?

[niyad]

23. somehow, I don't think my religion is going to be included in those "protections"

[atreides1]

32. That's the beauty of these laws.

It covers all religions...they cannot deny 'religious liberty' to anyone!

They cannot just include "Christians", because then the chances of the law being overturned as unconstitutional become greater...which means that Georgia will have to spend money in a court fight that they will lose!

[niyad]

40. but it is a fight that will take a great deal of time and effort and resources that could well

be spent on more productive things.

[HeiressofBickworth]

25. I'm a practical kinda gal

and what I want to know is will there be a questionnaire for every business transaction in order to be able to use this law. Or will they just make snap judgments as someone walks in the door. What if they are wrong? Will there be any legal recourse for the customer denied service on a false assumption?

Ok, wedding cakes for Steve and Mike might give a clue, but what about other situations? Would two women who go out to lunch have to fill out a form saying that they are not lesbians before being seated? Would any dark-haired, bearded guy have to swear he is not Muslim or Jewish or something other than WASP? And what about buying lumber from the local dealer? Forms required swearing that the lumber would not be used in a dwelling of two unrelated same-sex individuals? Or how about dark-skinned individuals wanting assistance at the department store? Oh, just think of the possibilities... they are nearly endless when driven by hatred and bigotry.

Of course there will be many businesses who just want to see the color of your money and will make no "value" judgment on the transaction. Will they need a sign on the door saying open to all?

With GA legislature up on their high horse, have they given any thought as to how this would actually work? Stupid people doing stupid things wasting taxpayers' time and money.

[safeinOhio]

31. So, if Michele Bachmann's husband

gets tossed out of a business in Ga.?

[muntrv]

26. these laws should really be called "I heart Jim Crow

Segregation" laws. They harken back to a time when you can treat non whites like motherfuckers

[vkkv]

28. I'm still waiting for TX, MO, OK, KS, AZ and the ENTIRE South to secede

so we Northerners can finally get going on that BORDER FENCE.

The North has enough sensible, leftist voters to rule over any WI, MT, NV, NE or UT Wingnuts.

[Hosnon]

38. As an LGBT Georgian fighting hard for equality, this perspective does not help anything.

Realistically, no one is seceding. Don't let the Republicans divide us along a North/South line that isn't even that relevant (the more accurate split is urban/rural).

[vkkv]

41. Thank you for you efforts but the fraud and hypocrisy of the right needs to be exposed.

Don't just scream for more rights, attack the bastards.

[PumpkinAle]

29. So folks which state will win first prize for "Proud Douchbaggery state"

Our contenders and their proposals are (no particular order):

Georgia - "Religious liberty"
Alabama - "Marriage between one man and woman"
Texas -
Arkansas - last month passed the "it's okay to discriminate bill"
Montana - Ban Sharia law from Montana courts.
Oklahoma - de-fund the new AP curriculum an “emergency” threatening the “public peace, health and safety."
Montana - Prohibit the state Board of Education from establishing math and reading standards.
And another from Montana - to make it illegal to don a costume that would make it appear you might be naked or which includes a prosthetic anus. (?????!!!)


And.................. please feel free to add to

[YOHABLO]

30. Prosthectic Anus? Really?

[muriel_volestrangler]

35. They tabled the bill after everyone laughed, but this is what it said:

a person commits the offense of indecent exposure if the person knowingly or purposely ... exposes any device, costume, or covering that gives the appearance of or simulates the genitals, pubic hair, anus region, or pubic hair region or exposes any device worn as a cover over the nipple or areola of the female breast that simulates and gives the realistic appearance of a nipple or areola while in a public place or visible from a public place without taking reasonable precautions to prevent exposure, and disregards whether a reasonable person would be offended or alarmed by the act.

http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2015/billpdf/HB0365.pdf

[ck4829]

33. Should the "We don't discriminate" stickers be brought to Georgia

The right sure threw a temper tantrum when that happened in Mississippi.

[peacebird]

34. I like it when the bigots self-identify. Like stores that post the fish symbol. I just pass them by.

I don't need to support them, clearly they believe their god is impotent, and needs THEM to pass judgement & punish sinners. Clearly they don't read that book they claim is gospel.... At least not the New Testament stuff, guess their god gave his only son for naught.

Pretty sure JC was all about helping one another, not persecuting people....

[workinclasszero]

36. This legalized discrimination law is just the beginning

"First they came for the gays but I was not gay so I didn't speak out"

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (14 January 1892 – 6 March 1984) was a Protestant pastor and social activist.

[angrychair]

39. maybe I'm wrong

But who cares what law they pass. While trying to draw public awareness to it is important and stopping it before it starts is great but at the end of the day the law will have little to no real impact.
I say that because this IS NOT the 1950's. We, as a nation, are different. There are people that are idiots and knuckle-dragging assholes, but they are more and more the minority.
If a business wants to discriminate, so be it. It is also our right to make sure we use social media and the press to make sure everyone knows they do.

At the end of the day, a business exist to make money. Its my right and your right to decide who you do business with. Service industry businesses, especially bakeries and wedding planners, run very tight margins and refusing business is not a viable long-term business model. Especially if we choose not to do business with them as long as they continue to discriminate. When their business drys up and the money stops coming in, tell them to go ask jesus for the rent money.