ATLANTA – Legislation seeking to give Georgians more leverage to invoke religion when disagreeing with government requirements is primed for final passage after clearing a committee Wednesday.
Senate Bill 36 passed the House Judiciary Committee 9-6 after amendments washed away prior changes, restoring the bill to the version that the Senate approved in early March.
The main sponsor, Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, said the measure shields people against state intrusion into their religious beliefs and practices. Critics, including the lone Republican on the committee who voted with all Democrats against passage, said SB 36 would allow people to use religion to discriminate against others, for instance by allowing landlords, adoption agencies, restaurants and other businesses to refuse service to gay people.
During a lengthy hearing last week, 29 people spoke for and against the measure. At least one religious figure opposed SB 36 but most speakers who represented a church favored the bill, saying their faith needs legal protection.
“People of faith are being censored, facing demands to violate their conscience,” said Bishop Garland Hunt, executive pastor at The Father’s House, a non-denominational church.
Opponents noted that most states that have adopted a religious freedom law also have a counter-balancing non-discrimination law that prohibits using religious beliefs to refuse service to LGBTQ+ people.
Setzler resisted attempts to add such language to SB 36. An amendment proposed by Rep. Deborah Silcox, R-Sandy Springs, last week sought to balance religious rights “against discrimination on any ground prohibited by federal, state or local law.”
Although Georgia lacks a statewide non-discrimination law, 18 communities have such local ordinances, and Silcox wanted to give those local laws legal weight against religious rights.
Republicans voted down her amendment.
After the committee passed the bill Wednesday, Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, said the committee’s vote against the Silcox amendment showed that “the true intent of this legislation is weaponizing religion.”
SB 36 now goes to the House Rules Committee ahead of a possible final vote by the full House.