TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – States around the country are coming under fire for pastor protection legislation that critics say discriminates against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Florida signed into law similar legislation, but equal rights groups were OK with it.
Religious freedom legislation has been prominent in state legislatures around the country in 2016. Florida lawmakers passed the Pastor Protection Act this year, which protects pastors from lawsuits if they refuse to marry same-sex couples.
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Religious leaders from around the state supporting the bill could be seen around the capitol for most of 2016's legislative session.
"It's time for us to stand up and fight against things like same-sex marriage," pastor Dexter Sanders said.
Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill earlier in March, but Florida's northern neighbor, Georgia, vetoed its version.
But LGBT rights advocates Equality Florida say that the Georgia and Florida versions of the bill were very different.
Georgia received national pressure from major companies to veto their legislation. Equality Florida said Georgia's bill went too far.
"These two bills are totally different," said Carlos Smith, with Equality Florida. "The state of Georgia did what we had feared might happen in Florida when they amended their Pastor Protection bill to also include businesses that serve the public, adoption agencies that would be able to discriminate against gay and transgender people. In Florida, we put a cap on that.”
Equality Florida was originally opposed to the Pastor Protection Act in Florida but were able to reach a compromise with bill sponsors that the legislation would only apply to clergy, who are already allowed to refuse to marry couples.
More than 20 state legislatures have passed religious freedom bills since gay marriage was legalized nationwide.