Warner Bros. says they will boycott Georgia if the “Anti-Gay” bill passes
Another major corporation has decided to step in and fight Georgia’s religious freedom bill: Warner Bros. has now come out in support of Disney and AMC in their threat to boycott Georgia productions in the event that a restrictive new “anti-gay” passes in the state Legislature.
Recently, the Georgia legislature has sent a religious liberty bill to Gov. Nathan Deal, who has until May 3rd to design whether or not to sign it.
The bill, which is called the Free Exercise Protection Act, says no faith-based organization “Shall be required to provide social, educational or charitable services that violate such faith-based organizations sincerely held religious belief.” In addition, organizations cannot be forced to “hire or retain as an employee any person whose religious beliefs or practices or lack of either are not in accord with the faith-based organizations sincerely held religious belief.”
Warner Bros. provided a strong statement in protest of the legislation. From Deadline:
“At Time Warner, diversity in all its forms is core to our value system and to the success of our business… We strongly oppose the discriminatory language and intent of Georgia’s pending religious liberty bill, which clearly violates the values and principles of inclusion and the ability of all people to live and work free from discrimination.”
“All of our divisions – HBO, Warner Bros. and Turner – have business interests in Georgia, but none more than Turner, an active participant in the Georgia Prospers campaign, a coalition of business leaders committed to a Georgia that welcomes all people. Georgia bill HB 757 is in contradiction to this campaign, to the values we hold dear, and to the type of workplace we guarantee to our employees. We urge Governor Deal to exercise his veto.”
Georgia currently has the third-largest film industry in America. 800 movies and TV shows, 30,000-plus workers, and an economic impact of close to $5.1 billion in 2014. This will have a major impact on the Governor’s decision.
