GOP activists push to revive Georgia anti-gay ‘religious freedom’ legislation

The number one thing on the docket at last weekend’s Republican district conventions was selecting delegates to this July’s Republican National Convention, but that wasn’t the only thing on tap. When they weren’t busy censuring Gov. Nathan Deal over his veto of HB 757, the controversial anti-LGBT so-called “religious freedom” bill, GOP activists were also apparently passing resolutions calling on lawmakers to revive the legislation—oh, and sideswiping Deal once more for good measure.

Tanya Ditty of the Georgia chapter of Concerned Women for America told the AJC that nine of the 14 congressional districts across the state approved such a resolution to “implore the governor to ignore all threats of Fortune 500 companies, global elites, sports teams, and ideologues of the Left who trample on our First Amendment rights.” Ditty, you’ll recall, made national headlines in 2012 when she testified before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee on lesbian state Rep. Karla Drenner’s (D-Avondale Estates) Fair Employment Practices Act, saying the bill would allow such things as necrophilia, zoophilia and pedophilia.

Here’s the count per Ditty via the AJC:

Activists in the First, Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, 10th and 14th districts endorsed versions of the resolution, according to Ditty. The resolution wasn’t voted on in the Fourth, Fifth, 11th and 13th, she said, and it was rejected in the 12th.

The next big meeting of Georgia Republicans is this June’s state GOP convention in Augusta, where you can expect similar activity surrounding HB 757 and fallout from Deal’s veto.

Here’s a copy of the standard version of the resolution, minus any alterations to the language made by some of the districts:

WHEREAS, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”; and

WHEREAS, since the founding of our nation, religious liberty has always been recognized as a preeminent human right; and

WHEREAS, our courts, legal system, and government bureaucracies are diminishing our free exercise rights as they increasingly show a willingness to subjugate religious liberty to leftist politically correct ideology; and

WHEREAS, the Georgia Senate and Georgia House of Representatives passed House Bill 757, the Free Exercise Protection Act (FEPA) in an effort to restrict our courts, legal system, and government bureaucracies from diminishing our free exercise rights; and

WHEREAS, Governor Nathan Deal has repeatedly made public statements that he would sign a Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) modeled on the 1993 federal RFRA for which he voted as a congressman;

THEREFORE, we, the Delegates of 6th District Republican Convention, express our appreciation to the Georgia Senate and the Georgia House of Representatives for passing FEPA to protect Georgia’s citizens from adverse local and state governmental actions against religious citizens for peacefully exercising their religious faith; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Delegates of ___ District Republican Convention urge the Senate and House to continue such efforts in 2017, particularly by passing an uncompromised RFRA modeled on the federal RFRA as our State GOP Convention overwhelmingly resolved in 2015; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Delegates of ___ District Republican Convention convey our deep disappointment with the Governor of Georgia and our disapproval of his veto of HB 757; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we urge the Governor to uphold his constitutional duty to protect our First Amendment Free Exercise rights as Georgia citizens in the same way as he has already done when he supported the federal RFRA, without any so-called anti-discrimination language either amended to the bill or in separate bills which would have the effect of undermining religious liberty, and to keep his word to sign state legislation modeled on the federal RFRA. We implore the Governor to ignore all threats of Fortune 500 companies, global elites, sports teams, and ideologues of the Left who trample on our First Amendment rights