Who’s the enemy of ‘religious freedom’ laws in Georgia?

For the past two years, far-right Georgia GOP legislators have tried – and notably failed – to pass religious freedom protection laws. In August, the Atlanta Journal Constitution featured a story about Georgia state Sen. Josh McKoon (R-Columbus), the author of the proposed laws in the last two legislative sessions.

The Journal Constitution wrote, “Only several days ago, the Paulding County GOP posted a YouTube video of its Saturday, Aug. 15 gathering that featured state Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus. During his address, McKoon spoke of S.B. 129, his “religious liberty” legislation embraced by many religious conservatives — in large part as a means of protecting them from the implications of legalized gay marriage.

“The measure has failed twice in the last two years. It is a sure topic of discussion in 2016. The problem, McKoon said, isn’t the LGBT lobby or Democrats.”

The problem, says McKoon in the video, is Delta Airlines, and its CEO Richard Anderson.

The paper quotes McKoon’s comments: ““We’ve had this problem because very large multi-national corporations that are headquartered in this state – their executives, many of whom are not from Georgia, have different values than you and I do. They think that their cultural norms, their liberal, far-left cultural norms, should be applied to our state.

“They think that they ought to be able to use the awesome power of government to do that. And that is why we have had the problem that we’ve had.

“When you have the CEO of Delta Air Lines saying that religious freedom is not in line with his company’s values, we’ve got a serious disconnect. We’ve got a serious problem.

“…When you start telling me that our individual civil liberties are somehow a business issue, we’re going to have a serious problem.”

On December 30, the Journal Constitution ran a story on a new effort. Apparently deciding that McKoon’s bill is going to remain stuck in committee, the paper writes, “Next week, Republican state senators will caucus in anticipation of the Jan. 11 start of the 2016 session. One of the topics to be discussed: Legislation proposed by Sen. Greg Kirk, R-Americus, a former Southern Baptist pastor, that would parallel a proposed federal measure known as the First Amendment Defense Act.

“Kirk’s bill would overtly extend specific protections to Georgians, including public employees, who maintain that marriage can only occur between a man and a woman — and act accordingly.”

Gayly readers at www.Gayly.com may recognize the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) from postings during December, which revealed the anti-gay (and anti-unwed-parents) nature of the FADA. For more information on the proposed federal law, visit www.gayly.com/trump-signals-support-anti-lgbt-religious-protection-bill.

A state FADA would, as the Journal Constitution notes, overtly protect Georgians who wish to discriminate against LBGT married couples.

It writes, “Over the course of two years, Georgia’s largest and most powerful business organizations have thwarted passage of ‘religious liberty’ legislation in the Capitol, arguing that it would jeopardize the state’s business climate by prompting boycotts of metro Atlanta’s convention facilities. A Super Bowl could be at stake, they say.

“In recent months, both the Georgia Chamber and the Metro Atlanta Chamber have grown more vocal, pointing to downturns suffered in Indiana this year, after Gov. Mike Pence signed into law a similar bill.”

Given Delta CEO’s Richard Anderson’s past comments on the matter, the Georgia legislators may have problems on their hands again this year.

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle (in April, 2014):

“’We are going to have to step up as a business community and take a much more active role in stopping this social legislation that doesn’t help us in the global marketplace,’ Anderson, the CEO of Delta Air Lines Inc., told the top- tier group of business leaders meeting behind closed doors.”

“A week later, Anderson kept up his criticism.

“’A number of us — Coca-Cola, Home Depot, AT&T — the very large employers, we did the same thing in Arizona,’ Anderson said in an interview at Delta’s headquarters on March 27. ‘ Companies that are transferring people here want to be in a community that respects the diversity of people’s views universally. That’s the standard now. Even the governor of Arizona vetoed that legislation.’”

The Journal Constitution, in a September 2015 story about Georgia’s biggest companies “standing firm” on “religious liberty” bill,  responded to McKoon’s allegation that Delta, and its CEO are somehow “left-leaning,” saying, “Some found irony in McKoon’s assertion that Delta’s CEO has a left-wing agenda.

“It’s true that the airline holds its annual meetings for shareholders in New York and has a sharp focus on Wall Street. And Anderson, the CEO, made $17.6 million in total compensation last year, including salary, stocks, options and incentives.

“But Anderson himself isn’t the spawn of some northeastern elite. Originally from Galveston, Texas, he went to night school to get his law degree from South Texas College of Law. He started his career as a county prosecutor before getting a job as an airline lawyer for better pay to support his family.

“In any case, multinational corporations are not often accused of holding far-left views, but that idea may be rooted in the divide Republicans now face on many social issues.

“’The problem for Republican political leaders in the South is this is presenting them with a conflict between two important parts of their base — the business community and the religious conservatives,’ said Alan Abramowitz, political science professor at Emory University. But, ‘I think it’s a stretch to say that these business leaders who are opposing these laws are somehow on the far left. It’s preposterous, really.’”

Neither McKoon’s bill, nor Kirk’s, are expected to pass.

The Gayly – January 3, 2016 @ 2:35 p.m.