Georgia bill aims to protect religious liberty. Opponents say it’s a license to discriminate

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers are revisiting a nearly decade-old fight over whether the state needs to protect religious rights from being trampled by state and local governments in a measure opponents say would provide a legal shield for people and groups to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people in the name of religion.That religious protection bill resurfaced Thursday eight years after lawmakers passed a different version of the measure. Then-Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, vetoed it in 2016 under pressure from Georgia’s business community, who said they feared it would hurt their ability to attract employees and tourists.
Also Thursday, a House subcommittee advanced a measure that would ban transgender students in public schools from using the bathroom that meets their current gender identity. Supporters say the measure is needed to protect students who aren’t transgender, while opponents in sometimes tearful testimony told lawmakers the measure would stigmatize and endanger transgender students who are already subject to bullying.
Both measures are being pushed in an election year when all of Georgia’s lawmakers are up for reelection and Republican leaders have become more conservative.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-3 to pass Senate Bill 180, sending it on to the full Senat for more debate. It mirrors a 1993 federal law, …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]