With the start of a new legislative session in Georgia on January 6, chances are the push for a “Religious Freedom” bill will return.

Call or email:

Rep. Spencer Frye: spencer.frye@house.ga.gov or (404) 656-0265
Rep.-Elect Houston Gaines: contact@houstongaines.com
Rep.-Elect Marcus Wiedower: votemarcuswiedower@gmail.com or (706) 254-3251
Sen. Bill Cowsert: bill.cowsert@senate.ga.gov or (706) 543-7700
Sen. Frank Ginn: frank.ginn@senate.ga.gov or (706) 680-4466

Make sure to tell your friends in other districts to call their state legislators, too. Don’t know who your legislators are? Find out here.

Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed such a bill previously, but with a new legislature and a new governor, it’s time to remind our state representatives that we don’t want a religious freedom bill in Georgia. Not only would passing such a bill harm business in our state (as we’ve seen in other states that passed such legislation), but it would also hurt workers who rely on the business a religious freedom bill would drive away. Most important, any bill of this kind would discriminate against our state’s diverse population. Want to learn more about real people who would be hurt by these laws? Georgia Equality has more information.

Personalized calls are more effective than multiple calls reading the same script, so express your personal feelings frankly! Here is an example script that you can build off of or use:

Hello,

My name is [NAME], calling from [CITY]. I’m contacting you today because I’m concerned about the renewed effort to pass a ‘religious freedom’ bill in Georgia. Passing this kind of bill would have a negative impact on Georgia’s economy and reputation, but it’s also just plain wrong and discriminatory. I hope you will voice your opposition to any such bill that gets introduced when the 2019 legislative session begins.

Thank you for the chance to share my concerns.

Feel free to modify the script, depending on whom you’re calling.

Please contact your legislators TODAY.

TELL THEM: We don’t want “Religious Freedom” in Georgia!

Thanks for caring,

Legislative Action Network
Athens for Everyone

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At times, I’ve been frustrated with our government, but until this year I never wrote letters or called my reps; I never even thought about visiting the Senate.  I know I am not alone.

But in February I helped hand-deliver 707  letters to the Atlanta offices of our US senators, more than 300 of which were written by people here in Athens, many at letter writing parties at the World Famous and Hi-Lo, where bi-weekly writing parties are on-going.

A group of Georgia writers, including myself, all members of the organization Writers Resist, met with representatives from the offices of Senators Johnny Isakson and David Perdue. Our organizer, Anjali Enjeti, began the meeting by explaining to the staffers a major frustration, our inability to communicate with this administration. Isakson staffer Mary Catherine Cromley admitted that the four staffers in the front office “have not put down the phones in the last month.”

I spoke of my fear of a “religious freedom” act, that any such act would lead to state-sanctioned religious bigotry. I explained that I grew up fundamentalist Christian and was abused in the name of religion.

Enjeti asked what the senators’ positions were on a proposed rollback of LGBTQ rights allowing businesses to discriminate against the LGBTQ community. She also asked how our senators feel about the executive order known as the Muslim Ban, which was temporarily suspended by the Ninth Circuit Court. In her neighborhood, John’s creek, 30 percent of the residents are foreign born; many are U.S. residents with green cards or legal visas; many are from seven countries part of the Muslim ban.

Isakson’s staffer, Mary Catherine Cromley, said, “We are letting this sift through the courts, because ultimately they have the final say,” admitting the senators were concerned about the ban’s rollout.

Enjeti then asked about Perdue’s recent bill to limit immigration. My-Ngoc To, whose family immigrated from Vietnam which enabled her to pursue an Ivy League education, explained how this legislation would impact her family, as well as the multi-ethnic population of our state.

In response, Robinson claimed the new bill focuses on prioritizing skilled immigrants, which is beneficial to corporations, which To contested. Laurel Snyder reminded Robinson that such an immigration bill is discriminatory to existing citizens who have family members, that it values the needs of corporations over people. She went on to remind Robinson and Cromley that President Trump was elected on the premise of bringing back jobs for the blue collar worker.

“It’s become clear that Trump is not supporting the worker but corporate America. Will the Senators push back?”

Enjeti reminded them that the current administration has plans to take away health care and build a wall with taxpayer money. When there was hedging, Steve McCondichie asked, “Are the senators for Republicans or for America? Are they going to do what the Republican party says, or stand up for America when Trump comes up with policies that are Anti-American?

When Cromley and Robinson claimed our representatives have been pushing back, I reminded them that there had been, a huge outcry against the nominations of Devos and Sessions, yet they voted the party line.

We had limited time to communicate, our hour long meeting was suddenly shortened to a half hour, but before we left one of us told a heartbreaking story of how her son, who battled cystic fibrosis before the Affordable Care Act, died.

“How many more of our children are going to die?”

Mary Catherine Cromley said, “We do not believe ACA will be repealed without a replacement. ” When pressed she said, “Any replacement plan that anybody would come up with would keep essential parts for preexisting conditions.”

We were being pushed out the door, but before leaving we brought up our objection to Steve Bannon, who is anti-Semitic, homophobic, and a neo-Nazi white supremacist, having a seat at the National Security Council.

With tears in her eyes, Soniah Kamal told how as an immigrant she and her family came to America and Georgia because she chose to live here. “I want it to be the country I know, which is fair to all Americans no matter where they come from or what religion they are or they don’t have any religion. Separation of church and state is one of the best things about this country– please keep that in mind.”

Even though many of our questions were not answered, as a whole the experience was empowering.

We brought letters representing the concerns of our neighborhoods, and we spoke up for our vision of Georgia as a place where diversity and inclusiveness are celebrated, where our people and our land are valued over corporate interests. Such direct action helps our representatives more accurately see the people they are elected to represent.

Deirdre Sugiuchi
February 21, 2017

Deirdre Sugiuchi is finishing her fundamentalist Christian boot camp memoir Unreformed. Sugiuchi’s work has been featured in Electric Literature, Guernica, the Rumpus, and other places. She lives in Athens, GA with her husband and son, where she curates the New Town Revue music and literature series. She’s also a public school librarian.