Georgia courts would have to give more weight to religious custom and preference when applying the law in disputes about individual rights if legislation adopted by the Republican-led state Senate Tuesday becomes law.
The Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which passed 32-23 along party lines, reignites a fight in the General Assembly dating back a decade.
In 2016, lawmakers passed another such measure over objections by civil rights groups that it threatened the state’s LGBTQ community. Business organizations fretted over the risk of convention and sporting event boycotts, and then-Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed the bill.
The current iteration, Senate Bill 36, says government “shall not substantially burden” a person’s exercise of religion except “in furtherance of a compelling government interest.”
Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, the chief sponsor, said the need is demonstrated by examples from other states that already have such a law — of a Native American youth who wanted to wear his hair long though the school wanted him to cut it and of a Muslim woman who refused to remove her veil for a photo in front of men while applying for a driver’s license.
The boy got to keep his locks, and the woman got her photo taken by a female photographer in a room with no men present, Setzler said, explaining that the courts had to balance their religious rights against local and state policies.
“People from all of your communities, no matter where you come from, need this basic protection in place,” Setzler said.
The vast majority of states have one of these religious freedom laws but nearly all of them have coupled such laws with anti-discrimination mandates, said Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta.
If SB 36 were to pass without civil rights protections, he said, hotels and restaurants could refuse to serve LGBTQ patrons, pharmacists could withhold birth control or HIV medicines for religious reasons, a venue could decline to host a Jewish wedding, and a landlord could deny housing to an unmarried couple.
Sen. RaShaun Kemp, D-Atlanta, said SB 36 would allow businesses to use religion as a reason to deny service to him, his husband and their two children.
“This isn’t about politics for me,” he said. “It’s about the ability for my family to live freely in this state.”
The measure now moves to the Georgia House of Representatives, which declined to consider a similar Senate measure last year.