BREAKING: Nathan Deal will veto Georgia’s ‘religious liberty’ bill

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AJC

Gov. Nathan Deal said he will veto the “religious liberty” bill that triggered a wave of criticism from gay rights groups and business leaders and presented him with one of the most consequential challenges he’s faced since his election to Georgia’s top office.

The measure “doesn’t reflect the character of our state or the character of its people,” the governor said Monday in prepared remarks. He said state legislators should leave freedom of religion and freedom of speech to the U.S. Constitution.

“Their efforts to purge this bill of any possibility that it would allow or encourage discrimination illustrates how difficult it is to legislate something that is best left to the broad protections of the First Amendment,” he said.

The two-term Republican has been besieged by all sides over the controversial measure, and his office has received thousands of emails and hundreds of calls on the debate. The tension was amplified by a steady stream of corporate titans who urged him to veto the bill – and threatened to pull investments from Georgia if it became law.

Read more: http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/03/28/breaking-nathan-deal-will-veto-georgias-religious-liberty-bill/

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Saw a CNN breaking banner as well...

[shenmue]

1. Yay

[mountain grammy]

2. Money talks, and, in this case, for a good cause.

[MBS]

14. well said. n/t

[democrattotheend]

39. This is one of the few issues corporate America has been on the right side of

On almost every issue, what corporations lobby for is the opposite of what I would lobby for if I had that kind of money/access. But on gay rights most large corporations have done the right thing, for example, by offering same-sex partner benefits long before they were required to.

[mountain grammy]

40. Yes they have and it's appreciated,

but also about the bottom line.. LGBT's and their families are customers too. Money talks. And then, there's the CEO's, and employees and families, most of whom have LGBT people in their lives.
Thank goodness not all corps are like Chic fil a.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. It isn't because he's a good guy.

He has no choice - the long knives of big business are out to carve up the state.

[Roland99]

26. Bingo!

[cstanleytech]

29. Possible but I suspect that this is more of a keeping control of the state government issue and now

the varies republicans in office who voted for this and are running either for re election or for a new higher office in a few months will use this to try and win over more of their voting base on a "I'm the bigger bigot so vote for me" platform.

[GOLGO 13]

4. Yes! We have won...again.

The double edged sword of loss of millions in revenue & ridicule are indeed powerful weapons against the orks.

[Bohunk68]

36. I wouldn't be so eager to go dancing in the streets just yet.

This Lege will probably try to override his veto. The Rethugs do control both houses. Let's just wait a bit and see.

[iandhr]

5. It's funny how much folks "sincerely held religious beliefs" go out the window...

... when you threaten their wallets.

[Betty Karlson]

32. The times that gays could be discriminated with impunity are drawing to a close

at least on most parts of the USA. Next target: housing and employment discrimination.

[oberliner]

6. Money talks

This was a business decision.

[RKP5637]

8. Yep, that's the way it is in USA, Inc. Money talks and has power, the rest of us just talk. n/t

[RKP5637]

7. Excellent! Many are getting fed up with the religious wackos and crazies they put in office. Voting

has ramifications. Good for him and Georgia. It's the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$'s that swayed him IMO, not wanting businesses to pull out of Georgia.

[riversedge]

9. k

[KeepItReal]

10. It's all fun and games for these GOP haters until...

Disney, the NFL, Coca-Cola, the NBA, Salesforce, Apple, the film industry (like the makers of The Walking Dead), and other major companies say don't you dare pass that anti LGBTQ legislation.

These Republicans don't give a damn about citizens or their rights.

Damn shame we have to depend on corporations to make these clowns do the right thing.

[Myrina]

19. ^^ This, right here ^^

n/t

[Solly Mack]

11. Good, but he's still a piece of shit.

I'm glad for everyone that stood up against the bill. They are the reason for this veto. Not Deal.

[rurallib]

13. Deal knows hate legislation is like buses

If you miss one, there will be another by pretty soon.
One of these days there will be one he can hop on and maybe no one will notice.

You know he really wants to sign it. If he really didn't he would have vetoed it right away or threatened to veto it before it passed.

This one just tested to see how far they could go. This one went a little too far.

[eggplant]

15. Override, anyone?

Already, several conservative lawmakers have owed to call for a “veto session” to rebuke the governor if he rejects the measure. It takes a three-fifth majority in both chambers to call a special session, and a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override a veto — a threshold the bill failed to reach by one vote in the Senate and 16 in the House.

“There are enough votes in the Senate to override,” predicted state Sen. Brandon Beach, an Alpharetta Republican facing a tough primary challenge who supported the measure. “I don’t know about the House, though.”

[mnhtnbb]

16. He probably figures the veto gives him an opportunity to woo business from NC , where Gov. McPurvy

just signed such a bill--under the guise of "protecting" women and children from bathroom peeping Toms--
but really was just an excuse to discriminate against LGBT people and make gay friendly town/cities
subservient to the Republican bigots in Raleigh.

McPurvy ( I mean, really, why all the obsession with who's in what bathroom?) and his merry band of bigots
are taking some serious blowback on the issue from all sides: corporations, universities, Chambers of Commerce--
AND a federal lawsuit is being filed today to block HB 2.

Deal probably decided it was better to let NC take the heat.

[AlbertCat]

22. The dumb-asses in NC....

..... I think it is a deliberate attempt to get people they think are liberal to move out of the state.

Teachers.... the film industry....

[ChairmanAgnostic]

17. two reasons why this happened

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

Each of them have tapped into a segment of the population which hates the current state of affairs in government. The youth, in particular, are rebelling against the inane religious based crap that so many pols in state government revel in.

I add Trump, because last night I spent a lot of time with two trump supporters, one 28 and one 70. They said the same thing, and felt strongly about how they have been shafted by local pols and by government in general.

I think this Gov. is smart enough to see the writing on the wall, that the natives are restless, and that by piling on with crap legislation like this, he would be feeding the monster that may consume this country in Trump's case, or lead to liberal, progressive victories, even in Red States, in Bernie's case.

[litlbilly]

18. Threaten them with $$$ what did you think he was gonna do? Money talks

[sulphurdunn]

20. This kind of state law constitutes

an individual right of nullification for religious bigotry in defiance of the Fourteenth Amendment.

[AlbertCat]

21. Smarter than McCrory!

Who is bought and paid for.... and a coward.

[PatrynXX]

23. i suppose if Coca Cola had left

there'd be along of shit hitting the fan.

[klook]

31. There are 20 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Georgia.

And there are many more with major operations in the state - mostly in the Atlanta area.

Most CEOs are probably backward politically, but they know better than to alienate gay customers, employees, and investors.

http://www.georgia.org/industries/headquarters/georgias-fortune-500/

[I hate liars]

24. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ - oh, and character $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[SCantiGOP]

25. disagree with adding 'character'

As I am sure you do. It is all about the money, but as long as economic boycotts - or the threat of one - works it is fine with me.

[NCjack]

27. Darn -- I was hoping North Carolina would poach those Georgia companies. No, wait -- Gov. McCrory

killed any hope that we will attract any progressive companies. Gee, thanks Gov'nor.

[7962]

28. I told everyone here he'd veto it. He said he had issues with it before it ever passed.

they refused to fix those issues. And he's not up for re-election, so it was an easy call.

[onehandle]

30. Deal is still a prick. nt

[AllyCat]

33. Had the money gone the other way, that's

what he would have done. He is hardly a fair man.

[DebbieCDC]

34. Money over Jebus

*shocked*

[awoke_in_2003]

35. Didn't he say he backed this

until the shit hit the fan?

[colsohlibgal]

37. He Had No Choice

Georgia would be broke ghost state had he signed that close minded hateful law.

Religion just causes so much hate and bloodshed....it is insane, in the end nobody really knows what.

[npk]

38. The bill was complete nonsense anyway

As it wouldn't have protected individuals from suing faith based institutions or those representing those institutions, i.e. such as churches. Ala the bakery in Oregon that was sued. The bill only would have prevented the government from forcing a church for instance to perform a gay wedding. So the church would still have been vulnerable from being sued by an individual, and to make matters worse the state of Georgia passed a bill right after this one that stated that an individual could sue a faith based organization for violating it's own rules and governances, such as advertising that they were free of discrimination only to in effect discriminate against those very same people.

Actually the religious right in the state should be happy this bill was vetoed, as it stood it would have opened them up to huge law suits.