Ugliness Down In Georgia

[stromboli]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/13/georgia-bill-helps-wife-beaters.html

Georgia’s “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” is among the worst in the nation. So why are pro-gay companies doing nothing about it?
Georgia is poised to pass the nation’s harshest “religious freedom” law, allowing discrimination, judicial obstruction, and even domestic violence. Yet while the bill is far worse than Arizona’s notorious “Turn the Gays Away” bill, it’s attracted far less attention from national advocacy groups and businesses.

The bill, the “Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” is one of a raft of similar bills (RFRAs, for short) wending their way through state legislatures across the country. The bills are part of the backlash against same-sex marriage, but they go much farther than that. Like the Hobby Lobby decision, which allows closely-held corporations to opt out of part of Obamacare, these laws carve out exemptions to all kinds of laws if a person (or corporation) offers a religious reason for not obeying them.

For example? Restaurants could refuse to serve gay or interracial couples, city clerks could refuse to marry interfaith couples, hotels could keep out Jews, housing developments could keep out black people (Genesis 9:18-27), pharmacies could refuse to dispense birth control, banquet halls could turn away gay weddings, schools could specifically allow anti-gay bullying, and employers could fire anyone for any “religious” reason.

The national movement to pass these laws is well-funded and well-coordinated; most of the laws are written by the same handful of conservative legal hacks in Washington, working for organizations like the Alliance Defending Freedom and Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, both of which have had a hand in the Georgia bill.

Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, said in an interview with The Daily Beast that “in the last two years, there have been 35 bills introduced around the country to establish or expand a RFRA. And there have been over 80 bills filed that specifically allow for discrimination against gay and trans communities.”

As worrisome as these laws are, however, Georgia’s is worse than most.

Georgia State Senator Josh McKoon rammed the bill through the judiciary committee, which he chairs, while opposition members were in the bathroom.
First, the language is the strictest possible. As with other RFRAs, Georgia’s act says that the government cannot “substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” without a “compelling governmental interest” and the “least restrictive means of furthering” that interest. This is the classic three-prong test that was at issue in Hobby Lobby, and is considered extremely difficult to meet.

Georgia’s RFRA also specifies that “exercise of religion” can be just about any “practice or observance of religion, whether or not compelled by or central to a system of religious belief.”

In other words, if I say it’s my religious exercise, it is.

Second, the Senate version of the bill was passed by its sponsor, State Senator Josh McKoon, with all kinds of shenanigans. He rammed it through the judiciary committee, which he chairs, while opposition members were in the bathroom.

Then, on dubious procedural grounds, he refused an amendment by a fellow Republican that would have specified that the “religious freedom” could not be used to discriminate against others.

Ironically, says Graham, Georgia doesn’t have that many protections for LGBT people in the first place.

“This is a preemptive strike against the LGBT community,” he says. “If this bill is not intended to allow discrimination, why were its sponsors so adamant about refusing to say so?”

McKoon’s bill passed the Republican-dominated State Senate on March 5, and now heads to the State House, where Republicans have a 2:1 advantage over Democrats, and where representatives have shelved their own version of the bill to try to pass McKoon’s version.

The combination of these factors has led to a curious result: a law so strict that it will lead to a host of unintended consequencesâ€"and has even led some Republicans to oppose it.

Some legal commentators have said that the law would give a pass to spousal and child abusers, as long as the husband (or father) has a religious pretext. Which is easy to provide; the Christian Domestic Discipline Network, for example, offers a host of rationales for “wife spanking.” And let’s not forget Proverbs 13:24: “He who spares his rod hates his son. But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.”

Georgia has numerous laws protecting child welfare, which is arguably a compelling state interest. But are such laws really the “least restrictive means” of protecting it? Not necessarily. At the very least, the laws offer a novel defense against assault and battery.

Or maybe not so novel. Graham says, “We have found cases where people used their religious views as an excuse to impede an investigation into child-endangerment and child-abuse charges. They were not ultimately successful, but they did slow down the investigations.”

With the new law, they would be far better armed. In fact, says Graham, conservative district attorneys in Macon and Marietta have said that the bill would impede investigations and prosecutions of child abuse.

Indeed, Georgia’s RFRA recently gained an unlikely opponent: Mike Bowers, the former attorney general of Bowers v. Hardwick fame. As some may recall, that was the Supreme Court case that upheld Georgia’s anti-sodomy lawâ€"and Bowers was the named plaintiff.

In an open letter to Graham (PDF), Bowers said that the law is “unequivocally an excuse to discriminate….[P]ermitting citizens to opt-out of laws because of a so-called burden on the exercise of religion in effect ‘would permit every citizen to become a law unto himself.’”

This perhaps is one reason why conservatives like Bowers and the D.A.s in Macon and Marietta stand opposed to it. As Bowers wrote, “this legislation is not about gay marriage, or contraception, or even so-called ‘religious freedom.’ It is more important than all of these, because it ultimately involves the rule of law.”

What is the future of Georgia’s RFRA?

The Georgia State House ends its session on April 2, and Graham predicts a tight vote. “This will probably go all the way to the final hours” of the session, he said.

Oddly, the most effective forces in killing Arizona’s “Turn The Gays Away” billâ€"corporations and the Chamber of Commerceâ€"seem to be sitting this battle out. Maybe it’s because Arizona was bidding on a Super Bowl and Georgia isn’t. Or maybe it’s because no one is paying attention. But for whatever reason, the corporate silence is deafening.

This is especially the case for Coca-Cola, which has spent millions to brand itself as pro-gay (remember that Super Bowl ad?) but has been mum on the Georgia bill.

“For now, it appears that Coca-Cola has a relationship of convenience with the gay community,” said Bryan Long, executive director of the progressive organization Better Georgia, in an email to The Daily Beast. “The company promotes equality when it serves the brand but won’t stand up for us when we need it most.”

If big business, national media, and national LGBT organizations continue to sit on the sidelines, the bill’s fate may be a matter of vote-counting. The House bill had 59 cosponsors, out of 180 total members. But Graham pointed out that a pending non-discrimination bill has 78, including 19 Republicans. So it is up for grabs.

On the other hand, maybe those who claim to speak for “equality” will decide to actually do something about it.

This is fucking scary. Whether or not such a bill will pass or stand up to challenges is another question, but it points out just how damaging the Hobby Lobby decision was. Already there have been decisions in court supporting religious freedom on the basis of that decision, including one in Utah.  The pending bill in Arizona is another story.

My hope is that this is the last gasp of a dying fish, but having laws entrenched that have to be dug out by later, more liberal congressional groups is just another major obstacle in us as a nation moving forward.

[Atheon]

These laws are clearly unconstitutional. Unfortunately, we stall have a Gang of Five in the Supreme Court. That's why we have to vote Democrats, Democrats, Democrats.

[Mermaid]

I want the midterm elections back. I can't believe things went the way they did, and I can only hope people fucking learned from it and show up to vote.

[stromboli]

That there hasn't been an outcry both from citizens and corporations is what disturbs me.

[Solitary]

Georgia---where my friends and I spent two weeks in jail for going one mile an hour over the speed limit that cost each of us $300, which would be $3,000 now. 

[hrdlr110]

Georgia---where my friends and I spent two weeks in jail for going one mile an hour over the speed limit that cost each of us $300, which would be $3,000 now. 

Undoubtedly, there is certainly more to this story. Something has been left out, spill or I'll start speculating!

Back to the op, do the dems really all go to the bathroom at the same time?

[Munch]

I feel sorry for our friend Mental Outlaw, since he's from Georgia :S

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I want the midterm elections back. I can't believe things went the way they did, and I can only hope people fucking learned from it and show up to vote.

Right now the last midterm is irrelevant, but it's important to focus on the WH for 8 more years AND the 2020 census because it's what rubes have been using for years for redistricting and gerrymandering while democrats have all but ignored the census.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

I feel sorry for our friend Mental Outlaw, since he's from Georgia :S

*ahem*
I'm stuck here too, and I'm none to satisfied with the turn of events either.

That said, the idea of a gays only restroom becomes...interesting. Maybe we can refurbish the old "whites only" signs to say "straights only".

[stromboli]

*ahem*
I'm stuck here too, and I'm none to satisfied with the turn of events either.

That said, the idea of a gays only restroom becomes...interesting. Maybe we can refurbish the old "whites only" signs to say "straights only".

Are we trying to fix a shortage of gay bars? My experience as a heterosexual is that social intermingling in a restroom is, to say the least, weird.

[Aletheia]

*ahem*
I'm stuck here too, and I'm none to satisfied with the turn of events either.

That said, the idea of a gays only restroom becomes...interesting. Maybe we can refurbish the old "whites only" signs to say "straights only".

"Gays Only"..... "Straights Only"...

Well, shit. I guess us bi's will have to hold it till we get home.

----

As for Georgia, it might take such drastic measures as this for people to realize what happens when you push "religious freedom" to extremes. I suspect child abuse, spousal abuse, and paedophilia will go through the roof. When that happens, there won't be much difference between "religious freedom" and "sharia law." Hopefully the revulsion from such a comparison will finally make the Christians snap out of it.

[hrdlr110]

"Gays Only"..... "Straights Only"...

Well, shit. I guess us bi's will have to hold it till we get home.

----

As for Georgia, it might take such drastic measures as this for people to realize what happens when you push "religious freedom" to extremes. I suspect child abuse, spousal abuse, and paedophilia will go through the roof. When that happens, there won't be much difference between "religious freedom" and "sharia law." Hopefully the revulsion from such a comparison will finally make the Christians snap out of it.

The only revulsion will come from those of us on the outside. I'd call what they experience to be comfort. Reading that was the closest I've ever come to time travel. If you can't go back in time, make "back in time" come to you!

[Munch]

*ahem*
I'm stuck here too, and I'm none to satisfied with the turn of events either.

That said, the idea of a gays only restroom becomes...interesting. Maybe we can refurbish the old "whites only" signs to say "straights only".

Good idea, go around replacing the toilet signs with 'whites/blacks' only.

If there was ever an example of people not learning from history..

[stromboli]

Good idea, go around replacing the toilet signs with 'whites/blacks' only.

If there was ever an example of people not learning from history..

Are you kidding? They still have carloads of people down there displaying the Confederate flag. They haven't even figured out yet they lost the Civil War.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

Are you kidding? They still have carloads of people down there displaying the Confederate flag. They haven't even figured out yet they lost the Civil War.

Wait...we lost?