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ATLANTA - The governor has not decided whether he will sign the religious freedom bill, but the business community said Tuesday it already has companies threatening to pull events out of Georgia.
At an executive committee meeting of the Atlanta Convention and Visitor's Bureau, officials said one company has already decided it will likely cancel an event booking later this week, unless Governor Nathan Deal vetoes the bill.
"We've been served notice that on Friday, if nothing has been done with the bill, then they would have no other choice but to pull out because their meeting's actually in May of this year," explained Mark Vaughan, chief sales officer for the ACVB. "There's a time lapse here that's ticking and they need to continue to do business and they're not going to do it here under the current state."
Vaughan would not identify the company; he just said it is "a major corporation" that uses the Georgia World Congress Center and books 2,500 hotel rooms for 7,000 total room nights.
Governor Deal has said publicly that he would not sign a bill that legalized discrimination, however he has not commented on the newest version of House Bill 757, which lawmakers approved as a compromise last week.
HB 757 protects religious leaders from having to perform marriage ceremonies or other rites which conflict with their religious beliefs. The bill also shields faith-based organizations from being required to offer social, educational and charitable services to people in violation of their religious views or employ people whose religious practices are not in line with theirs. The bill also includes anti-discrimination language, which supporters believe strikes a fair balance between protecting religion and protecting the rights of other Georgians.
The Governor's Office said Monday that he will review the bill in April.
In the meantime, Vaughan said 15 separate companies have contacted the ACVB to express concerns or inquire about the status of the bill. If all 15 decide to move their business elsewhere, that represents an estimated loss to the city of 400,000 hotel nights.
"What we've done is created this kind of concern with their membership or their sponsors that Atlanta might not be so very welcoming right now," said Vaughan.
The ACVB has asked its members to write Governor Deal encouraging him to veto the bill.