Disney, AMC and Marvel joined the
growing chorus of companies calling on Georgia Governor Nathan Deal
to veto an anti-gay bill approved by lawmakers.
The Free Exercise Protection Act (House
Bill 757) would allow faith-based organizations to not hire or
provide services to people who “violate” its sincerely held
religious beliefs.
“Disney and Marvel are inclusive
companies, and although we have had great experiences filming in
Georgia, we will plan to take our business elsewhere should any
legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state
law,” said a Disney spokesman.
Disney is currently filming Guardians
of the Galaxy 2 outside Atlanta.
AMC, which films The Walking Dead
and Halt & Catch Fire in Georgia, added that as a company
it “believes that discrimination of any kind is reprehensible.”
“We applaud Governor Deal's
leadership in resisting a previous version of this divisive
legislation and urge him to reject the current version as well,” an
AMC spokesman said Wednesday.
Last
week, the NFL said that passage of the bill could knock out
Georgia from consideration as a Super Bowl host.
(Related: Ice
Cube: Anti-gay discrimination is “old, antiquated practice.”)