NFL threatens Atlanta with losing Super Bowl over bill protecting gay ‘marriage’ objectors
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| The new NFL logo went into use at the 2008 draft. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The National Football League (NFL) says Atlanta could be left
out of consideration for hosting a Super Bowl if new legislation is enacted
that aims to protect the conscience rights of citizens who oppose same-sex
“marriage.”
“NFL policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness, and
prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual
orientation, or any other improper standard,” spokesman Brian McCarthy said in
a statement. “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.”
The bill itself combines several pieces of legislation that
passed the state legislature last week. It allows pastors to not perform
same-sex "marriage" ceremonies and allows religious-based groups to
make hiring and retention decisions based upon religious beliefs and practices
of employees.
It also allows the government to enforce contracts and grants,
and groups must follow federal non-discrimination policies, which currently do
not address LGBT issues.
The bill has changed dramatically since first passing the state
House last month. At the time, the bill was simply protecting pastors, though
other provisions that were considered included those that would allow all
businesses the chance to deny participating in events and providing related
services that they objected to.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal spoke
against the original
version of the Pastor Protection Act after it unanimously passed the Georgia
House, saying the religious protections were unChristian. "What the New
Testament teaches us is that Jesus reached out to those who were considered the
outcasts, the ones that did not conform to the religious societies' view of the
world," Deal said. "We do not have a belief in my way of looking at
religion that says we have to discriminate against anybody. If you were to
apply those standards to the teaching of Jesus, I don't think they fit."
However, on Saturday, Deal indicated the combined legislation
could garner his support. A spokesperson for Deal did not respond to
LifeSiteNews' request for comment as to what changes had occurred in the
legislation to possibly change the governor's mind on the bill.
Deal's original and new comments, as well as those from
McCarthy, come as an estimated 400 corporations try to pressure Georgia into
ignoring the rights of those with traditional views on marriage.
Some of the businesses opposing the bill are the Atlanta Braves,
the Atlanta Falcons, AIG, Google, UPS, and Apple. Many of these same
corporations pressured Indiana Gov. Mike Pence into
abandoning a
state-based Religious Freedom Restoration Act last year -- even though the law
was similar to the federal version backed by the ACLU in 1993.
While conventional wisdom states hosting a Super Bowl is of
enormous economic benefit to a city, numerous studies have found the benefits
may be relatively modest. “When one looks back at the actual data, we don’t
find bumps of hundreds of millions of dollars,” sports economist Victor
Matheson told FOXBusiness.com. “When economists do look back, we find increases
in economic activity of $30 million to $120 million.”
