A telecom company is threatening to
relocate after Georgia lawmakers approved a bill that protects
opponents of marriage equality.
The Georgia House last week unanimously
approved House Bill 757, the Pastor Protection Act, which protects
clergy from being forced to marry gay and lesbian couples. On its
way to the Senate floor, a committee amended the bill to include
Senate Bill 284, which would “prohibit discriminatory action
against a person who believes, speaks or acts in accordance with a
sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is
or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman or that
sexual relations are properly reserved to such marriage.”
On Friday, the revised bill cleared the
Senate 38-14 after three hours of debate that was, at times, heated.
The Republican-led House must agree
with the changes before it heads to Governor Nathan Deal's desk for
his signature.
The group Georgia Unites Against
Discrimination said on its Facebook page that the bill would “allow
tax-payer funded organizations to legally discriminate against LGBT
Georgians.”
Decatur-based telecom company 373K
tweeted: “We are very saddened by the Georgia Senate which passed
#HB757 also known as #FADA. It's time to relocate.”
Kelvin Williams, the company's
co-founder, told The
New Civil Rights Movement that the bill does not embody “the
message of Christ.”
“It's sad our state government wants
to take us back in time,” he said. “If you're not a white
married Christian heterosexual, prepare to be persecuted.”
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