
Major businesses in Georgia have already spoken out aginst Georgia’s ‘Religious Liberty’ bill, just another legislative measure in a nationwide series of failed attempts to legalize LGBT discrimination. Now, business behemoths are threatening the state’s financial livelihood. The NFL warned Georgia lawmakers last Friday that passing this bill could jeopardize any chance of Georgia hosting a Super Bowl.
“NFL policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness, and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other improper standard,” the NFL’s statement on the bill to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reads. “Whether the laws and regulations of a state and local community are consistent with these policies would be one of many factors NFL owners may use to evaluate potential Super Bowl host sites.”
This threat has ample precedent and consequences for the State’s football franchise. As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes, “Falcons owner Arthur Blank has hoped to land multiple Super Bowls in the team’s new stadium, which is scheduled to open in 2017. The NFL has previously moved a Super Bowl from Arizona to the Rose Bowl near Los Angeles in the 1992 season after that state refused to recognize the Martin Luther King holiday.”
Georgia is also at risk of losing the entire entertainment industry, following comments from Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin.
“I know we have many entertainment industry leaders in the room tonight,” Griffin said inaddressing attendees at the HRC’s Los Angeles Gala Dinner Saturday night. “Like other states, Georgia offers tax incentives for TV and film productions, and as a result, the entertainment industry has a huge economic footprint in the state. But if this bill is signed into law, your employees, your contractors — all those working on your production are at risk of state-sanctioned discrimination. That is wrong. It’s un-American. It’s an affront on all the values Hollywood prides itself on.
“And you have the influence and the opportunity to not only defeat this bill, but to send a message that there are consequences to passing dangerous and hateful laws like this. And so tonight, we’re asking you to join us as we urge TV and film studios, directors and producers, to commit to locating no further productions in the state of Georgia if this bill becomes law.”
See Griffin’s full comments here.
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