As Amazon’s search for its second headquarters (HQ2) heats up, many state governments are feeling pressure to expand their nondiscrimination laws to include LGBT+ people, or at least to slow the pace of anti-LGBT+ legislation.
But NPR reports that the dynamic is significantly more complicated in Georgia, where big businesses including Delta, Coca-Cola, and Disney have successfully led corporate opposition to a series of discriminatory laws passed by a state legislature dominated by conservative Republicans.
Atlanta is one of the 20 metropolitan areas named as a finalist for HQ2.
Some legislators have gone so far as to say that they’re not interested in attracting businesses who will oppose their agendas on LGBT+ rights to the state.
State Senator Michael Williams, who is a long shot candidate for Governor in Georgia this year, told NPR: “If the mere fact that we want to reinforce our religious freedoms means that a company does not want to come to Georgia, then we’re better off without them.”