Anti-LGBT bill in Georgia is just a signature away from law

Remember the debate over "religious liberty" that got the United States so riled up last year?

It's back -- this time, in Georgia.

The Georgia House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that would make it legal for pastors to refuse to perform same-sex weddings, and for religious institutions such as churches to refuse to perform services involved in same-sex ceremonies. 

In addition, the legislation would give organizations with a religious affiliation the right to refuse hiring someone whose beliefs did not align with their own.

Similar bills in Indiana and Arkansas caused an uproar across America last year, as LGBT activists and religious liberty activists continue to battle each other in legislatures across the country.

“We feel we’ve advanced our protection of our First Amendment right to religious freedom,” Mike Griffin, spokesperson for the Georgia Baptist Convention, told Reuters. "Our rights of religious liberty don't end inside the four walls of a church."

Advocates of the bill believe the First Amendment right to religious freedom is violated when someone who doesn't believe in same-sex marriage is forced to provide services for a same-sex wedding. 

Others fear the bill could allow for discrimination.

"Discrimination rarely finds an end place once it's started," Rep. Stacey Abrams said during the Georgia House's debate. "We cannot balance discrimination on the backs of those we force to bend."

Republican Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has said he won't sign a measure that legalizes discrimination, though Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said something similar last year before he signed a bill that many believe did just that.

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