josh mckoon Archives - Georgia Voice - Gay & LGBT Atlanta News

Georgia Senate committee passes anti-LGBTQ adoption bill

The Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning passed a bill that would allow adoption agencies to refuse to place children with same-sex couples based on their religious beliefs. The bill would also...

Anti-LGBTQ adoption bill advances to full Senate Judiciary Committee

A Georgia Senate Judiciary sub-committee on Thursday afternoon heard public comments on a bill that would allow adoption agencies to refuse to place children with same-sex couples based on their religious belie...

Jeff Graham, Josh McKoon and Park Cannon

2018 Legislative Preview: Lawmakers, activists weigh in on religious exemptions, hate crimes bills

Passing a modernized adoption bill is a top priority for the General Assembly and statewide LGBT advocacy group Georgia Equality in 2018, but a continued discussion looms over potentially discriminatory languag...

Georgia GOP won’t require gubernatorial candidates to pledge support for ‘religious freedom’ legislation

Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidates won’t have to sign a pledge committing themselves to furthering so-called “religious liberty” legislation, party leaders decided this weekend. According to the Atl...

Simon Williamson, columnist with Georgia Voice

Simon Williamson: Bad day at the rodeo

One of the most common refrains we hear in the post-2016 US is that Democrats lost because they are out of touch with the rest of the country, bundled up in their sanctuary welfare cities and missing out on all...

Georgia GOP senators make last-ditch pitches for anti-LGBT adoption language, ‘religious freedom’ bills

Two controversial pieces of legislation were brought to the Senate well during the second-to-last day of the state's 2017 legislative session. Brunswick Republican Sen. William Ligon's amendment to House Bil...

Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee adds anti-LGBT provision to adoption bill

Updated at 6:30 p.m. with comments from Sen. Vincent Fort In a surprise move late this afternoon, the state Senate Judiciary Committee added anti-LGBT language to House Bill 159, a piece of legislation deali...

Ryan Lee: ‘Religious liberty’ crowd reveals true colors as First Amendment crumbles

As they've lost ground in the culture wars, conservatives have been crying wolf about the endangered nature of faith in America, insisting that our country was straying from its founding principle of religious ...

State Sen. Josh McKoon will not run for re-election in 2018

Josh McKoon (R-Columbus), the GOP senator known as the face behind the Georgia legislature’s “religious freedom” movement, announced yesterday he does not plan to run for re-election in 2018. The announcemen...

LGBT, civil rights groups finally seeing chance to play offense in Georgia

Progressive leaders in Georgia are beating the drum for the state to adopt a comprehensive civil rights bill now that the state's GOP leadership have made it clear they are not interested in getting into anothe...

State senator aims to continue ‘religious freedom’ bill push despite loss of leadership position

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported just before the end of 2016 that Georgia’s Senate Republican Caucus met in a closed-door meeting to discuss merging its two judiciary committees. If the merger is appro...

A time of reckoning: Atlanta's LGBTQ community addresses racism problem

Record Number of Businesses Earn Perfect 100 on HRC Corporate Equality Index

White House Livestreams Anti-LGBTQ Sermon

Group Demands ICE Release Trans Woman in ‘Life-or-Death Medical Crisis’

Is gay Atlanta rapper Anye Elite about to break out?

RuPaul Set to Host SNL

Katie Sowers to Make History as First Openly LGBTQ Coach at Super Bowl

Ryan Murphy to Receive GLAAD Award for Accelerating LGBTQ Visibility in Media