Georgia lawmakers are revisiting a nearly decade-old battle over whether the state should protect religious rights from being trampled by state and local governments. Opponents say the measure provides a legal shield for people and groups to discriminate in the name of LGBTQ+ people. religion.
The religious protection bill resurfaced Thursday, eight years after lawmakers passed a different version of the bill. Then-Gov. Republican Nathan Deal vetoed it in 2016 after pressure from Georgia’s business community, which worried it would negatively impact its ability to attract workers and tourists.
Also Thursday, a House subcommittee advanced a measure that would ban transgender students in public schools from using the restroom that matches their current gender identity. Supporters say the measure is necessary to protect non-transgender students, while opponents, in sometimes tearful testimony, told lawmakers the measure is necessary to protect transgender students who are already the targets of bullying. He said it stigmatizes and puts students at risk.
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Both measures are being pushed in an election year in which all Georgia lawmakers are up for re-election and Republican leadership is becoming increasingly conservative.
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 180 6-3, sending it to the full Senate for further discussion. This mirrors a 1993 federal law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Ed Setzler of Acworth, said the federal law does not apply to state and local governments, which could deny permission to distribute religious literature or urban planning zoning permits. I have been pushing for this bill for many years because of this. He went to church without fully respecting religious freedom.
“All Georgians should be free to worship and practice their faith without undue interference from federal, state, or local governments,” Setzler said.
Georgia Republican senators vote in favor of a bill aimed at protecting religious freedom at the state Capitol in Atlanta on February 22, 2024. Opponents say the bill would provide a legal shield against discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)
But opponents say private companies could use the law to do things like deny birth control to employees, and the bill could punch holes in local laws prohibiting discrimination. warns. Georgia has no statewide anti-discrimination law.
“Some people see hateful intent in their religious practices by denying gays and lesbians jobs, housing and dignity,” said Michael Rothbaum, senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Haverim, an Atlanta synagogue. It seems like he has it.”
But Setzler said claims that the bill would enable discrimination are false.
“That’s not what they’re saying at all,” he said. “The parade of horrific events you hear about is simply not the case when you look at the states where this applies.”
The current bill is co-signed by 23 other Republican senators, but after Deal’s veto it was deemed politically radioactive and the issue has died down.
The debate over a bill regulating student bathroom use has a similar outline, with Republicans saying Georgians need protection and opponents saying the law would be weaponized against transgender students. are doing.
“The issue is making sure that biological males can use men’s facilities and biological women can use women’s facilities,” said Josh, a Fayetteville Republican who is the sponsor of House Bill 936.・Congressman Bonner said.
Elizabeth Wagner, who lives in suburban Berkeley Lake, told the committee she is the mother of a transgender boy. She warned that the bill would only force him to use women’s restrooms and increase bullying.
“Anyone with a heart and a handful of brain cells can understand what this bill is about,” Wagner said. “Hunting season for transgender youth begins in Georgia.”
This measure also applies to changing rooms and overnight school trips. Schools are required to find alternative restrooms so that transgender and other students do not feel uncomfortable using the restroom that corresponds to their natal sex. During the committee’s discussion, it was unclear whether school districts in Georgia have policies that allow transgender students to use the restroom that corresponds to their current gender identity.
But opponents said alternative restrooms often require crossing large high school campuses, making it difficult for students to access them during classes. Ben Ackerley, who helps lead the Georgia chapter of Transparent, an organization for parents of transgender youth, said this makes students feel even more isolated.
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“Such considerations isolate them from their peers, and all they want is to be included,” Ackerley said.
Starting in 2021, 11 states, including neighboring Tennessee, Alabama and Florida, have passed laws restricting bathroom use, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ rights group. North Carolina passed it in 2016 amid controversy similar to Mr. Deal’s veto of Georgia’s religious freedom bill in 2016, which was repealed in 2017.
Georgia’s bill would allow parents to sue school districts if school officials allow students to use a restroom that does not match their birth gender, and would allow professional standards boards that license teachers and administrators to issue violations. conduct can be investigated.
