Wow—it’s only been two days since we’ve launched, and already, our campaign to stop discrimination in Georgia is moving full steam ahead.

Thousands of Georgians have signed our petition because they know that discrimination isn’t a Georgia value, and that together we can build a campaign strong enough to stop the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act in its tracks.

But let’s be clear: Legislation that would allow individuals and businesses to use religious beliefs to discriminate against LGBT people has already been introduced—and the only way we’ll defeat it is if we continue to grow this campaign every single day.

Will you help get the conversation started with your friends now? Show that you oppose a “license to discriminate” against LGBT Georgians—just click here to share our graphic on Facebook now.

There’s no doubt that RFRA would harm LGBT Georgians—but that’s not all. This misguided bill would open the floodgates for any person or business to ignore any law meant to protect all of us from discrimination.

RFRA would allow individuals and businesses to claim they have a religious right to ignore any law—including non-discrimination laws, child abuse laws and domestic violence laws—opening the floodgates to lengthy and expensive lawsuits from anyone claiming that they have a religious right to ignore municipal laws.

We have to stop this bill—and we have to stop it now.

Share our graphic on Facebook today and show that you are a Georgian who opposes a license to discriminate against LGBT people.

Will Georgia’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) allow businesses to discriminate against Georgians? Politifact Georgia rated this claim “true.”

Politifact looked into the specifics of this proposed piece of legislation—HB 29—to find if the language currently offered would grant businesses and corporations the legal right to discriminate against individuals in the name of religious freedom. What they found is unanimous, bipartisan support amongst legal scholars, confirming that the proposed bill would in fact allow for such discrimination against LGBT and other Georgians.

“Reaching out to legal scholars from across the political spectrum, we found a rare agreement. Without that exemption, businesses can claim a religious exemption.”

The consensus is based on a number of rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court, including last year’s Hobby Lobby case which ruled that private businesses do in fact have religious rights. But if Georgia passes RFRA, the implications will go far beyond last year’s Supreme Court ruling.

“Georgia code also clearly defines a person as ‘an individual, a corporation, a partnership, a business trust, an association, a firm, or any other legal entity.

Combined, that creates the opportunity for all sorts of businesses—not just the ‘closely held’ firms listed in the Hobby Lobby ruling—to potentially discriminate based on religious claims, legal experts said.”

And it isn’t just outside legal experts who agree, even the Legislature’s own counsel found that such a bill would apply to businesses as well.

“Like the outside scholars, the attorney for the Legislature agreed the measure would extend to businesses.”

Politifact concludes by pointing out the absolute rarity for legal scholars from across the board to come to a consensus on anything, leaving without a doubt proof that the proposed RFRA bill, as it’s written now, would absolutely open the door for discrimination against Georgians.

“In the world of politics and religion, we have found the equivalent of a leprechaun riding a unicorn across a field of four-leaf clovers: complete consensus.

The claim was whether the bill, as drafted, would allow businesses to claim religious exemptions. We rate it True.”

LGBT Community Fights Back Against So-called Religious Liberty Bill

Atlanta – Georgia Equality is launching a historic grassroots campaign with Georgia Unites Against Discrimination to oppose legislation in the Georgia General Assembly that essentially allows individuals to use their religious beliefs to harm the LGBT community and others.

“Freedom of religion is one of our most fundamental rights as Americans. That’s why it’s protected in the Constitution. But religious freedom doesn’t give any of us a right to harm others,” said Jeff Graham, Executive Director of Georgia Equality.

Georgia Equality works to advance fairness, safety and opportunity for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities throughout the state. Georgia Unites Against discrimination (GAUnites.org) is a bipartisan grassroots campaign dedicated to protecting gay and transgender Georgians from discrimination and ensuring that individuals and businesses aren’t able to use their religious beliefs to harm others.

“Through these coalition efforts, we will educate, organize and activate the citizens of Georgia to stop this dangerous legislation. We will highlight the stories of real Georgians as we work to make the case that in our state, discrimination against anyone is wrong, and that includes people who are gay, lesbian or transgender,” said Graham.

While opposing this legislation, GA Equality will also expand its state-wide efforts to broaden and strengthen nondiscrimination protections against gay and transgender Georgians.

Graham noted the ‘religious liberty’ bills will not only harm the LGBT community but will open the door for unintended consequences for other people in our state:

• It could impact public safety, giving a paramedic or police officer the right to refuse to help someone who is gay.
• It could hurt single mothers, who are denied or kicked out of housing by a landlord who believes a man should lead every family.
• It could even excuse a man who abuses his wife because he claims that a husband is within his rights to discipline his own family.

Graham is hopeful that more of the business community will follow the lead of Delta Airlines, Mariott, and IHG to publicly oppose this legislation, as many did last year when the bill died in committee. “This proposal would badly damage the business reputation of the state. It will jeopardize Georgia’s ability to grow its economy and negatively impact our reputation as a leader in global commerce.”

By partnering with Georgia Unites Against Discrimination, Graham is optimistic that the bill will be defeated because most citizens support the basic values of fairness and freedom.

“One of our most important values is treating others the way we want to be treated, and creating new laws that go against that principle hurt us all,” said Graham.

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We need your help. The 2015 Georgia legislative session is underway—and already, some lawmakers are vowing to push legislation known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) that would give individuals and businesses a “license to discriminate” against Georgians who are gay or transgender.

That’s why today, Georgia Equality is proud to stand alongside our partners who are launching Georgia Unites Against Discrimination—a historic, grassroots campaign committed to keeping discrimination out of Georgia.

If you’re ready to defeat this dangerous bill, add your name to the Georgia Unites Against Discrimination petition right now, then share with your friends.

The freedom of religion is one of our most fundamental rights as a nation—and it’s not up for debate. But if RFRA passes, it would allow any person to ignore critical laws meant to protect all of us from discrimination.

But RFRA isn’t just bad for Georgia families, it’s bad for Georgia’s economy too. Leading businesses are already firmly voicing their opposition because they know discrimination will damage Georgia’s reputation and ability to compete in the global economy.

Now more than ever, Georgians must unite behind the basic values of fairness and freedom that define who we are as a state. Together, we must stop this mean-spirited legislation in its tracks before it’s too late.

Sign Georgia Unites Against Discrimination’s petition now and help defeat legislation that would give a “license to discriminate” against LGBT Georgians. Click here to add your name.

Then, be sure to “like” Georgia Unites Against Discrimination on Facebook and follow @GeorgiaUnites on Twitter for the latest in the campaign to keep discrimination out of Georgia.

Together we can defeat this harmful proposal and continue the work of making Georgia a welcoming place to live and work for everyone.

Today, we’re excited to share with you Georgia Unites Against Discrimination’s new website — your online hub for the latest news and actions in our campaign to stop the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a bill that if passed into law, would allow individuals and businesses to use religious freedom as a justification to discriminate against others. Our new website gives our supporters all the tools you need to get involved in our historic campaign—from sharing your story to volunteering.

Right now, you can take actions that will help us make the case against discrimination right now:

• Sign the petition: We know a majority of Georgians agree that discrimination is wrong—but now it’s time to show it! Sign the petition if you believe that no one should use their religious beliefs as a justification to cause harm to others.
• Share your story: Supporters across the state are coming together to share their stories about why they believe all Georgians should be protected from discrimination.  
• Volunteer: We’re growing our campaign every day as more and more supporters are joining us at phone banks and community meetings. Volunteers are at the core of our efforts, so sign up now to join us at a volunteer event near you.
• Contact your lawmakers: Send an email to your state legislators now and let them know that you, and a majority of Georgians oppose the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

And don’t forget to “like’ Georgia Unites on Facebook and follow @GeorgiaUnites on Twitter. Together, we can defeat RFRA—and ensure that no Georgian should face discrimination in the name of religious freedom.

Emory University’s Director of Baptist Studies, the Reverend David Key, is proud to stand with a growing number of Georgia faith leaders to speak out against the proposed Religious Freedom Restoration Act—which if passed will allow individuals and businesses to discriminate against others under the guise of so-called “religious freedom.”

A lifelong Georgian, Key grew up in Augusta, but currently resides in Madison, Georgia with his wife Pam of 26 years, along with their two children.

Rev. Key is guided by a faith that teaches, at its core, that discrimination is wrong. That’s why one of the things that incenses Rev. Key so much about this proposed legislation is the egregious redefinition of “religious liberty,” a concept deeply rooted in the Baptist tradition.

“Religious liberty… the concept is a very strong Baptist concept, and I teach Baptist history at Emory so I’m very much involved in the religious liberty dynamics. But RFRA is trying to redefine what religious liberty truly means, because now it’s not so much about you participating in your religious practices, it’s now about… can you now discriminate against people based on religious tradition?”

Key continues, “I’m old enough to remember when Baptists were claiming religious liberty because our missionaries could not go into Spain. The Roman Catholic Church refused to let them in. Now a days when we talk about religious liberty of Christians who simply want to worship together, say in Saudi Arabia, that is an element of religious liberty. But to sit there and then say I’m going to discriminate against people based on religious liberty in some ways trivializes the experience of these other Christians, some of which had to die for just worshipping their faith.”

For Rev. Key, there’s no doubt that the so-called RFRA misappropriates religious liberty to allow for discrimination—and he calls on his fellow religious leaders across Georgia to join him in working to defeat it.

“I think it’s incumbent on those who are religious leaders to be the ones to stand up and say wait a minute, let’s not try to use this law to say that we are victims when there are a lot of ways that we have a level of privilege in society. Religious leaders have that responsibility.”

One of the more concerning aspects of this law, he argues, is that it will help those who are already in power, at the expense of those who are not.

“I think it will allow people of certain faith traditions to think they have on their side the ability to not do certain things, which they should do. If they are in public service, they should be serving the public, and if they argue their religious liberty prevents them from serving a segment of the public, they will be able to use this law to justify it.”

Furthermore, Key fears that this law would almost certainly be used to allow for discrimination against gay and transgender people in Georgia—including his older brother, who is gay

“There is a certain fear there. LGBT people don’t have the law behind them, where people can cause harm to those people, including my brother… When we bestow that they are lesser than the rest of us, it’s not only harmful to them, it’s harmful to us as well because that’s not the community we need to be building.”

But even if it weren’t for his brother Jimmy, Rev. Key argues that he would still feel that it is imperative to speak out against this law, for the simple fact that no one should be discriminated against just for being who they are.

“I think it’s the right thing to do. Standing up for the right thing to do, there’s really no personal interests other than what would be best for the state of Georgia and for my community.”

Dr. Kenneth Samuel is the Pastor for the World Church in Stone Mountain, which has dual standing as an Independent Baptist Church and an active congregation of the United Church of Christ. He currently resides in Ellenwood, Georgia and is the proud parent of his daughter Kendalle.

As a well-respected pastor and civil-rights leader, Rev. Samuel has always been an outspoken activist for equal rights for all.

“My life has always been about our love for Jesus never being separated from our passion for Justice. I have engaged myself in the struggle for Human Rights through many agencies.  Most recently, I serve as Vice-Chair of the African American Leadership Council for People for the American Way.  In the past, I was a past President of the DeKalb County, Georgia Branch of the NAACP and an elected Georgia delegate to the last four Democratic National Conventions. I believe that we must all walk the same road to justice and equality.”

It is in part his experience working towards civil rights for all, as well as his strong adherence to faith, that propelled Rev. Samuel to speak out against the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Georgia, which he is certain could open the door for discrimination against people who are gay or transgender.

“When I heard about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, I knew instinctively that I had to be public because this would be an injustice to gay and transgender people in Georgia. People of faith already have religious protections. The freedom we have in place does not give any of us the right to harm others. This proposed legislation will do harm to others in the name of religion.”

Rev. Samuel touches on just some of the reasons he opposes this mean-spirited and harmful legislation.

“As an African American pastor in Georgia, I have fought long and hard for African American civil rights in this country—in the name of religion and in the civil rights through legislation. I am supporting my LGBT family against this legislation because I don’t believe my love of God means I have to discriminate against another group. We all can work together and not send the message that because you are different, you don’t get certain privileges. That’s wrong. God loves us all and we were all made equal, so we deserve equal respect.”

He adds, “Let’s be clear – we have religious protections in place. Our American values are in line with our religious protections because everyone is treated fairly. This proposed legislation will set up situations that support discrimination. It is not American to tell everyone they have a right to decide and follow through on discriminating against another person just because of who they love”