Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal To Veto Anti-LGBT ‘Religious Liberty’ Bill

Gov. Nathan Deal gives a news conference on clinical trials of a marijuana-derived oil that was held at Children's Hospital of Georgia in Augusta, Ga. on Tuesday, July 8, 2014. Georgia's governor is pushing clinical ... Gov. Nathan Deal gives a news conference on clinical trials of a marijuana-derived oil that was held at Children's Hospital of Georgia in Augusta, Ga. on Tuesday, July 8, 2014. Georgia's governor is pushing clinical trials for a marijuana-derived drug that proponents say could help treat severe seizure disorders among children, an unlikely election-year move for a Republican in a conservative part of the country that is just beginning to warm up to medical marijuana in narrow circumstances. (AP Photo/The Augusta Chronicle, Jon-Michael Sullivan) MORE LESS
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Georgia’s Republican Gov. Nathan Deal on Monday will veto a so-called “religious liberty” bill that had been criticized by civil rights groups for being anti-LGBT, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Deal said that the legislation “doesn’t reflect the character of our state or the character of its people.”

“Georgia is a welcoming state. It is full of loving, kind and generous people and that is what we should want,” he said at the press conference announcing the veto.

The bill was passed by the Georgia legislature this month at the urging of religious conservatives, who have pushed legislation across the country that they say will protect the religious freedoms of those who oppose same-sex marriage in the wake of the Supreme Court decision legalizing it nationwide. Civil rights groups argue that the religious rights the legislation purports to advance are already protected by the Constitution, and the bills instead enshrine anti-LGBT discrimination.

The Georgia bill would have allowed ministers to refuse to perform same-sex marriages and would have let religious organizations refuse to rent out their space for ceremonies to which they object.

A number of businesses came out against the legislation, including movie studios, which threatened to move production of films slated for Georgia to other states, and Time Warner.

Meanwhile, anti-LGBT “religious liberty” legislation signed by North Carolina’s Gov. Pat McCrory (R) last week faces a lawsuit from civil rights groups.

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