Up until Sherman’s March to the Sea, Georgians may not have realized that they had always been on the wrong side of history; the havoc wreaked by Union troops devastated all aspects of Georgian life. It was the state’s destiny to face harsh consequences for seceding from the Union. But until Sherman’s final barrage of reckoning, Georgia—and the rest of the Confederation, for that matter—couldn’t or wouldn’t come to its senses.
The actions of our lawmakers recently put Georgia at risk of a similar phenomenon. Senate Bill 129, colloquially known as Georgia’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, galvanized a great deal of worry throughout the state and even the nation. Not only would Senate Bill 129 have allowed restaurant owners to discriminate against the LGBT community, housing development owners to shun black people and schools to allow anti-gay bullying, but it would have immediately scared away any businesses potentially moving to Georgia. Thankfully, the bill died out on the last day of session when its author, Sen. Joshua McCoon, agreed to table the bill in exchange for Democratic votes in favor of a transportation bill. The deal may have thwarted the bill’s passage, but it’s still troubling that the bill almost put Georgia on the path to becoming an archaic, disreputable state.
Georgia isn’t the only state whose legislature has attempted or even passed an RFRA. Indiana just passed its own RFRA, joining 19 other states who have already taken the outrageous action. Even more unusual, the federal government passed its own RFRA just decades ago. President Clinton signed legislation preventing the government from “substantially burdening” citizens’ religious exercises except for a “compelling government interest,” and in that case it must be by the least restrictive means. This federal RFRA was the crux of the Supreme Court’s decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby—granting corporations the right to refuse to give certain health-care subsidies to employees—and erected a backbone for state legislatures to follow suit.
Had the Georgia RFRA been passed, the ramifications would have been extreme. The entire state is already in dire need of economic stimulus, particularly in the form of business appeal. Atlanta is fraught with crumbling infrastructure, haphazard education and traffic that could make any yuppie want to stay home. Savannah’s port, which has historically positioned Georgia as a commercial hub, is steadily losing ground to ports scattered across the Eastern seaboard. The experience of other states shows that RFRAs are horrible for business. States that have passed RFRA’s have suffered a significant backlash from the business community, an event that our economically troubled population simply can’t afford.
More importantly, passage of the RFRA would have turned Georgia into a state that not only sanctions discrimination but in some cases even encourages it. It’s been quite a while since restaurant owners have been able to kick out patrons for mere personal prejudice. And that’s what worries me the most: this state almost willingly turned its morals into ashes, only this time it wouldn’t have had Sherman to blame.
