Sara Hardin 

Sam Hackworth 

English 102 

27 April 2016 

Eliminate The Bill That Promotes Discrimination

"I'm sorry we cannot serve you in this store." These are the harsh demeaning words that members of the LGBT community and other minorities would be hearing regularly in Georgia if House Bill 756 is passed and made into a law. This bill, classified as a "religious freedom bill", is emerging in many states, and the so-called purpose of them is to protect religious liberty and and rights from being violated. While this bill has good potential to expand religious expression, it's results would actually be extremely harmful to the citizens of Georgia. This is because it would promote discrimination and inequality by allowing private businesses to refuse to service same-sex couples or any type of person that their religion does not recognize. Not only would it affect the people, but this bill would also damage the reputation of Georgia, the economy, and many companies. 

This bill originated in summer of 2015, shortly after the same-sex marriage law was passed for all states. Since then, Georgia legislators have been aware that many citizens are against the bill, except they refused to make any changes to the bill and have still been pressing to get it approved by the Governor, Nathan Deal. The stakeholders for this issue are not only same sex couples, but also members of the LGBT community, interracial and interfaith couples. All of these different people would be directly affected, which would spark a chain reaction of other citizens despising the bill because they witnessed how it affected their friends and family. Georgia House Bill 756 should be vetoed because the first amendment already provides religious freedom to citizens and business owners' religions should not be involved with their work due the detrimental effects that would arise throughout Georgia and even the whole country. 

Where did the idea for this bill come from? The state of Indiana was the first to test out this type of bill and it did not have a happy ending. The religious freedom bill was passed in Indiana, resulting in the community lashing out and being very upset. The bill was faced with widespread criticism from major companies such as NCAA and Apple Incorporated (Payne). Also, people retaliated by protesting all over the state and many counties in Indiana quickly reacted by enacting non-discrimination laws. Therefore, the citizens in Georgia who oppose the bill are trying to get their lawmakers to realize that bringing the same bill to Georgia is only going to end exactly how it did in Indiana. Since these citizens' outcries are not being acknowledged by the Georgia government at an individual level, well-known corporations are banding together to prove a point. This coalition of businesses includes Home Depot, Google, AT&T and more. These companies are coming together because they are popular and influential in the Georgia community and want to show the government that they are against the bill and believe that businesses should service all people, regardless of sexual orientation. The director of the coalition, Ronnie Chance, serves as the voice for many Georgians when he says, "No one in Georgia wants to go through what Indiana experienced" (Chance). Based on the belief that the best way to grow is by learning from your mistakes, Georgia's success as a state would diminish and falter if the lawmakers choose to ignore what happened as a result of Indiana's unnecessary bill. 

Some people in Georgia may not believe that the government is neglecting democratic ideals by not listening to what the people want. However, a filmed interview of Georgia State Senator, Josh McKoon, by Better Georgia proves otherwise. When the interviewer asks the representative why the government is not making changes to the bill when they know that citizens believe it to be discriminatory, his reply is that he believes they do not need to add any language to the bill that will protect discrimination (McKoon). He claims to believe this because he thinks that the benefits of increased religious freedom outweigh the slim chances of discrimination. However, he is being naive and only taking his intentions into consideration because he refuses to accept the fact that the bill will cause a very prominent discrimination problem. This serves as a clear example to people that they elected leaders of their state that are doing their job incorrectly and are questionable as to if they have the peoples' best interests at heart. Another possibility for the reason behind the bill is seen when The American Journal Constitution argues that the bill is a result of the conservatives' outrage about the Supreme Court passing the same-sex marriage law in the United States (Torres). Senator McKoon is a sponsor of the bill, along with Senate Bill 129, which is extremely similar to House Bill 756 in that it gives religious people a license to discriminate against anyone that is not acknowledged in their religion. Therefore, it is evident that the Georgia legislators are making numerous different bills that essentially all have the same content, in order to resist and place limitations on same-sex marriage. This is believable due to the large amount of Americans that were enraged by the passing of the same-sex marriage law, so it is easy to notice that since lawmakers cannot change the federal laws, they are abusing their power and concocting any type of bill they can that will challenge the Supreme Court's law. 

The controversial situations that could arise from this bill are endless. For example, an individual or private business, such as a florist shop, cake store, photographer, etc. could blatantly tell a homosexual, interracial, or interfaith couple that they will not service them because of the relationship they are in. This is extremely demoralizing and hurtful for the couple to hear because marriage is supposed to be a joyful event, however, if the preparation for that ceremony involves being denied and discriminated against, it can take away from the couple's experience. Additionally, another scenario that potentially could occur as a result of this bill would be a hospital or doctor refusing to let a person visit their sick spouse in the hospital. Despite the slim likelihood that problem arises, the simple fact that people would even be granted the opportunity to reject others from common daily occurrences is wrong and disrespectful. 

The New York Times touched on the idea that while many different situations may seem unlikely from happening, it only takes one instance to occur for others to follow and replicate the same scenario. Consequently, plentiful amounts of discrimination could take place in countless forms if the religious freedom bill is passed. If businesses have the ability to avoid tolerating certain minorities, then other people will think it is okay to judge a person and limit their freedom as well. Ultimately, this could lead to younger generations growing up thinking that such behavior is normal and accepted in society, which would halt all the progress that our nation has made since it was first formed. Eventually a domino effect would occur and soon enough we would have another era that is similar to the civil rights movement. 

The similarities between the civil rights era in the 1900's and the gay rights era that we are in currently, is seen in a Channel 6 news report, where a civil rights activist in Augusta, Georgia is interviewed on her opinion on House Bill 756. Joan Mulholland relates the discrimination that African Americans faced to what is going on today because that discrimination is now directed towards homosexuals (Mulholland). It took hundreds of years before African Americans were treated as equal and allowed to use the same facilities that whites could use, which is why people are fearing that society will create the same problem in not allowing gay-couples to have the same privileges that the rest of the people have. This fear will become reality if the Georgia legislature and governor decide to pass the Religious Freedom bill. Blacks also faced similar bills after they were given their freedom, for example the Jim Crow Laws came into effect resulting in "separate but equal" facilities. These laws resulted in segregation and increased resentment towards the government, which is the same theme occurring in our society today. Regardless of what one's religion believes, people should not have to be publically discriminated against and not able to receive the same services that every other citizen gets to enjoy. A person's background information, family life, or personal sexuality preference should not be taken into account when simply trying to make a purchase at a store or hire someone to do a task that they would be paying equally as much as someone else who was heterosexual. 

The tendency to discriminate is sadly still installed in some people, which is why Stephen Peters, a press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, wrote an article about how the community needs to come together to stop this bill. He believes that this bill will fill the state with inequality and hate and that it is a problem that will not be easily solved; many people will have to exert their compassion in order to stop this bill from being passed (Peters). Since this task will not be an easy feat to accomplish, people must be willing to accept the fact that it will be hard to get the government to comply. It is easy to get discouraged when it seems like the people that are suppose to be helping us are actually hurting us. However, with the right attitudes and determination, the citizens of the state of Georgia will eventually be heard by their leaders. Just because the legislators hear the peoples' complaints, does not mean that they will implement corrections into the bill right away. In fact, the bill is written in a way that does not even mention the potential situations of discrimination or directly authorize discrimination in the workplace, which is why the lawmakers do not see why they would have to modify anything. That is another part to this issue that many people are enraged about; the fact that the creators of the bill know how to change their wording in order to get their point across but avoid saying anything that could make them seem discriminatory. The official House Bill on the Georgia General Assembly website describes the reason the bill was issued as being to "protect certain sellers of good and services against infringement of religious freedom" (Tanner 1).  At first glance, one would not see anything wrong with the purpose of the bill, however the sly wording is implemented to fool people into thinking that they are introducing the bill to benefit everyone and that it will not have any negative effects. It is important that people realize what this bill is potentially capable of, regardless of how unbiased and professional it is written. 

Georgia's Religious Freedom Bill is not the only bill that is causing resentment among Georgia citizens, because the state government has created more controversy by adding another bill to be combined with HB 756. This new bill is called the "Pastor Protection Act", which gives religious leaders the right to disagree to performing same-sex marriages and the ability for churches or other religious institutions to forbid wedding ceremonies of LGBT members. Not only is this bill discriminative, but it is also deceptive due to the large gray area of uncertainty that results from it.  Since this bill is so broad and does not specifically state that religious ceremony leaders will be discriminating against people, it leaves many people confused as to which type of people and situations that the bill will apply to. According to CNN Wire, it is not as much the bill itself but the act that the government would go through the process of adding another bill just to make sure that gay couples could not get married by who they wanted (Almasy). If the Religious Freedom Bill did not prove to people that the lawmakers are very against homosexuality, then the "Pastor Protection Act" certainly showed people that the government is doing whatever they can to fight against same-sex marriage. It is infuriating that people feel the need to abuse state laws in order to combat a federal law, which can explain why an organization created a Facebook page that includes information stating "The proposed legislation would allow tax-payer funded organizations to legally discriminate against LGBT Georgians." (Alsup).  This is an important quote because it sheds light on the fact that LGBT people pay taxes that could potentially be going to the businesses or people that would have the power to reject and humiliate them. This is a strong argument that needs to be more advocated for because it is blatantly wrong for someone to be contributing to society as much as another person but not being allowed the same entitlements. Social media is a powerful source for spreading information, which is why it is beneficial that a group of people who were offended came together to promote their justice. If more people are enlightened on the bills' outcome via social media, then it will spark interest and encourage people to find out for themselves what is happening to society. The diffusion of information will help the community come together and protect the statement in the Declaration of Independence, " ...  that all men are created equal ... " (Jefferson). It is ironic that people who are trying to avoid adjusting to the times and sticking with beliefs from the 1700's are not abiding by one of history's most famous phrases and treating everyone equally. 

While many people will argue that the passing of the Religious Freedom Bill and the Pastor Protection Act is illustrating the fact that the government does not care about treating everyone equally, the government thinks otherwise. The proponents of the bill believe that they are promoting equality by increasing religious freedom for people. For example, the state sponsor of House Bill 757 (The Pastor Protection Act) claims that, "The bill is about equal protection and does not show discrimination in any way" and that "It only impacts the government's interaction with faith-based organizations or a person who holds faith based, sincerely held beliefs as it relates to marriage" (Kirk). The supporters of the bill genuinely believe that they are contributing to society by passing the bill. In addition, advocates for the bill feel as though religion is being jeopardized in our generation and that more precautions need to be taken in order to ensure that we are valuing the first amendment, which prohibits anything that would impede the free exercise of religion. A possible reason for people feeling the need to uphold religion is that religious people are noticing that religion is becoming less of a priority to people as it was when our country was founded, therefore people are strong defenders of the Religious Freedom Bill and Pastor Protection Act because they will re-install values that they are most familiar with. Also, some supporters of the bill are the private business owners who feel uncomfortable providing service to people that will be participating in the special union for life but are not a couple consisting of one man and one woman. The justification for this way of thinking is that since they own and operate their own business, they are not inclined to provide service for anyone who wants to use their company. They see their business as a privilege, not a right. Every person is entitled to their own beliefs and opinions, which is why it is acceptable for the business owners to feel that way, however, it should not be acceptable for these people to deny a tax-paying citizen from using their services in today's society.

To conclude, there are multiple strong reasons as to why the Georgia House Bill 756 entitled "Religious Freedom Bill" should be disregarded and terminated. One of these reasons includes, just because the company is servicing an LGBT person, does not mean that they are supporters of the person's sexuality or what they are doing, it simply means that they are doing their job and are a respectable business for treating everyone fairly. Secondly, religion is already protected by the first amendment and the bill does not state an explicit reason as to why the lawmakers feel that this bill must be implemented. Furthermore, regardless of how this bill could help a small amount of people, it could potentially hurt a large amount of people due to the discrimination that would be exhibited and spread. I believe that we need to keep progressing as a nation of acceptance and equality, or else we will never be able to live as peacefully as we could. Everyone deserves the pursuit of happiness and the right to use and enjoy the same experiences as non-LGBT members do. No one should have to feel the pain of being denied from a job they are well-suited for, just because of their sexual orientation. 

Much to my delight, during the process of writing this essay, the Governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal, vetoed House Bill 756 and 757 on Monday March 28, 2016. His reasoning behind doing so is exactly what I believed when I first heard of the bill, which is that "I do not think we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in Georgia, of which I and my family have been a part of for all of our lives" (Deal). His claim proves that regardless of what you believe or how religious you are, it is not morally right to discriminate against anyone in any way, shape, or form. 

Works Cited

Almasy, Steve. Alsup, Dave. "Georgia Senate passes religious freedom bill." CNN Wire 22 Feb.

2016. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. 20 Feb. 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.

Better Georgia. "What is Georgia's new religious freedom bill really all about?" Online video

clip. www.savegeorgiafamilies.com. Youtube, 9 Feb. 2015. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

Chance, Ronnie. "OPINION: Don't pass that bill that could bruise Georgia's brand".

www.georgiaunites.org. Georgia Unites. 20 Feb. 2016. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

DuBose, Renetta. "Fighter of Black Civil Rights Shines Light On Expanded Rights For All."

wjbf.com Channel 6 News. 15 January 2016. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.

Ellis, Ralph. "Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to Veto 'religious liberty' bill." cnn.com Cable News Network. 28 March 2016. Web. 3 April 2016. 

"Georgia and Bigotry Against Gays." New York Times 27 Feb. 2016: A22. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 March 2016.

Peters, Stephen "Georgia Bill Attacking LGBT People and Other Minorities Passes Through

Senate." www.hrc.org Human Rights Campaign, 5 March 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.

Somashekhar, Sandhya. "Georgia Governor Vetoes Religious Freedom Bill Criticized as Anti-Gay." www.washingtonpost.com The Washington Post. 28 March 2016. Web. 2 April 2016. 

Tanner, Kevin "2015-2016 Regular Session - HB 756

Commerce and trade; protect certain sellers of goods and services against infringement of

religious freedom; provide" www.legis.ga.gov Georgia General Assembly, 5 March 2015.

29 Jan. 2016.  

Torres, Kristina. "Bill Lets Businesses Refuse Services to Gay Couples in Georgia." ajc.com Atlanta Journal Constitution. 13 Jan. 2016. Web. 2 April 2016. 
