Georgia 'Religious Liberty' Bill: Gov. Nathan Deal Says He Will Veto

ATLANTA, GA -- Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced Monday morning that he will veto HB 757, the controversial religious liberty/anti-gay bill that was approved by the Georgia General Assembly and would have allowed faith-based groups to refuse services or terminate employees based on sexual orientation.

"Government doesn't need to confer religious liberty," Deal said. "Inclusions and omissions in their statutes may lead to discrimination, intentional or unintentional.

"This is about the character of our state and people. Georgia is full of loving, kind and generous people, who choose to worship God in their own way."

Read: Governor Nathan Deal's Remarks on Religious Liberty Veto

The announcement comes as a similar bill that was passed in North Carolina has come under heavy fire, including a lawsuit filed Monday morning. The law in North Carolina was passed in a last-minute legislative session and voids all laws at the city and county level that ban employers from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender.

The North Carolina law was passed after the city of Charlotte was set to enforce in April a new law protecting LGBT and transgender workers. It was framed as a fight against men in women's bathrooms and vice versa, as the Charlotte law would have allowed transgender people to choose which bathrooms they use.

The Georgia bill drew widespread criticism from local and national businesses.

The NFL said the bill's passage could cost Atlanta the Super Bowl, and the Southeastern Conference, which holds its annual football championship in Atlanta, acknowledged that it was keeping its eye on the bill.

"This bill has caused many reactions, and many of those have been extreme," Deal said. "Those who threatened me, including those in the business community, should know I don't respond well to threats."

AMC, which airs and produces the primarily Georgia-lensed "The Walking Dead," joined an entertainment-industry chorus calling for Deal to veto the proposal. Disney and its Marvel Studios also said they would stop filming movies in Georgia if Deal signed the bill.

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which is scheduled to hold its annual board of directors meeting in Atlanta in May, came out this past Friday against the bill.

The ACLU announced Monday morning that it was suing the state of North Carolina over what it called the state's "Anti-LGBT" law.

"The law is intolerable and puts the most vulnerable among us at risk of discrimination, harassment and violence," the ACLU said in a statement.

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Read more of Patch's coverage

• Flight Attendants Union: Thumbs Down on Religious Freedom Bill
• 'Walking Dead' Network AMC Decries Georgia's 'Religious Liberty' Bill
• Disney Would Quit Filming in Georgia Over 'Religious Freedom' Bill, Spokesman Says
• NFL on 'Religious Freedom' Bill: Georgia's Super Bowl Chances Endangered

Marc Torrence contributed to this report.