ATLANTA — For much of the last decade, the “religious liberty” debate was one of the most polarizing political fights in Georgia.

Companies threatened boycotts. Protesters flooded the Capitol. Lawmakers risked their careers by taking dramatic stands.

Now, the once-explosive feud has been eclipsed by new culture wars fights over transgender rights, cost-cutting initiatives and other MAGA-tinged policies inspired by Donald Trump’s victory.

So much so that when the latest version of the proposal passed the Senate along party lines this month, it hardly registered beyond the Gold Dome.

It was a stunning contrast from 2016, when conservative lawmakers muscled a similar bill through the Legislature, only for then-Gov. Nathan Deal to veto it amid forceful business backlash.

Back then, the debate sucked the oxygen out of the Capitol as the brutal debate played out: Supporters insisted it would protect religious Georgians from government interference. Critics called it a last-ditch effort to target gay rights.

Now, the measure has a real shot of passing the House, where it has stalled for years. Republicans emboldened by Trump’s November victory are checking off long-sought conservative priorities, and this one is back in play.

“You would have thought the world was ending when this was sent to the Governor’s desk in 2016,” said Spiro Amburn, a former legislative aide who was in the middle of the fight a decade ago.

“So much has changed since then. Timing is everything, and the business community has other concerns to the point that the debate is seemingly an afterthought.”

That’s not to suggest opposition has evaporated. The Metro Atlanta Chamber and Georgia Chamber of Commerce warned the proposal “would undermine the state’s strong reputation” as a business hub. And Democrats still frame it as a flimsy excuse to discriminate against LGBTQ+ Georgians.

But the fight looks very different this time. The days of high-profile campaigns by corporate giants are over — perhaps because some are more cautious about taking stands in the Trump era.

Republican state Sen. Ed Setzler, the measure’s sponsor, said he’s worked closely with Gov. Brian Kemp’s legal team to develop this year’s proposal — giving him confidence the governor will ultimately sign it into law.

And House leaders who once blocked the bill in the past aren’t showing the same resistance this year to the idea, which would limit the government’s ability to pass or enforce laws that conflict with religious beliefs.

House Speaker Jon Burns told the “Politically Georgia” podcast he understands the drive to pass the measure.

“We want to make sure Georgia remains the No. 1 place in the country to do business and we want to be respectful of our business community. But we’ll listen to both sides of the argument,” he said, adding: “There are many issues on the table, but that’s an important one.”

A decade of shifting tides

When then-state Sen. Josh McKoon first introduced a version of the legislation in 2014, he tied it to conservative backlash against then-President Barack Obama’s policies, calling it “another tool in the tool kit” to fight his health care overhaul.

He also pitched it as a state-level equivalent to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993 federal law signed by President Bill Clinton that once had bipartisan support.

But the fight over the bill quickly escalated beyond Georgia. That same year, Arizona lawmakers passed a similar measure, only for the state’s governor to veto it after a national firestorm. The blowback sidelined Georgia’s effort, but a year later, it seemed destined to pass.

That was until state Rep. Mike Jacobs, a Democrat-turned-Republican, inserted a last-minute amendment that effectively doomed the measure. It also could have cost Jacobs his political career, though Deal tapped him weeks later to a judgeship.

Momentum shifted again in 2016 after the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was a constitutional right. Conservatives revived the idea, framing it again as added protections from government intrusion. This time, it narrowly passed both chambers.

But Deal nixed the measure calling it damaging to the state’s business-friendly image as a state of “warm, friendly and loving people.”

McKoon, now the chair of the Georgia GOP, has never let go of the fight. He argues that the economic threats that once surrounded the bill were “buried for good” after Kemp signed Georgia’s anti-abortion law in 2019 — when anticipated blowback never materialized.

“Many ordinary citizens have now caught on to the Chicken Little, overheated rhetoric of the far left,” McKoon said. “And it’s lost much of its impact as a result.”

MAGA or mainstream?

This time around, there are no such calls from Apple, Disney, Salesforce and the NFL to reject the legislation as there were a decade ago. Opponents have shifted their strategy from outspoken opposition to even more behind-the-scenes lobbying.

They argue that the real danger is how the bill could override local antidiscrimination laws, something outside groups backing the legislation once highlighted. And they’re hoping moderate Republicans in swing districts work to stall it.

Democratic state Sen. Elena Parent evoked the economic fallout that hit Indiana when lawmakers there passed a similar bill a decade ago, warning Georgia could face the same consequences. And state Sen. RaShaun Kemp, another Atlanta Democrat, framed the bill as another battle in a culture war that “drives a wedge between neighbors.”

For Democrats like Taylor Bennett, the issue remains personal. He flipped Jacobs’ Brookhaven-based seat in 2015 by running explicitly against the bill and sees today’s effort as part of a Trump-driven playbook.

“I’m not surprised that Republicans emboldened by the hater in chief are continuing to target marginalized communities to make themselves feel big and strong,” said Bennett, who later lost a 2016 vote to a Republican.

Setzler, however, framed the measure as a part of a broader national trend. Supporters say that 29 states have now adopted similar legislation, with Wyoming joining the list the list just last week.

“I am confident the Georgia House has the language before it needed to protect people of faith without unintended consequences,” Setzler said.

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