It's time to connect two items. A politician and his business affairs.
The state of Georgia could very well legalize discrimination with the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) which will allow businesses within the state of Georgia to deny service to anyone using the business owner's RELIGIOUS BELIEFS as a reason. This sweeping law if passed would disallow any protections for LGBT under current or future anti-discrimination laws. The bill has already passed in the Georgia State Senate and is scheduled for a vote in the Georgia state house of representatives.
The very important connection I am trying to make is this....On March 13th, a news story came out that a deal was reached with C&P Restaurant Company to become a franchisee for 6 new FAZOLI'S Italian restaurants, a "Quick Service" style restaurant chain. One of the partners in C&P Restaurants is current STATE REPRESENTATIVE ALLEN PEAKE (R- Macon) and his company already owns several franchised restaurants under the Captain D's and Cheddar's brands.
So we have a proposed law that gives businesses in Georgia the right to discriminate against people, the main target of the discrimination is LGBT people and these laws are in response to the growing number of states where same-sex marriage has become legal and gay couples have been denied service by some businesses and are challenging those businesses for their discrimination. The legislation is strongly supported by members of Allen Peake's affiliated political party and it is very likely that he will vote on this legislation and side with his fellow republicans.
So its very important that some questions be answered! I am making this blog post to ask our LGBT activists, organizations and LGBT media to be that loud voice asking several questions of several people.
1. What are State Representative Allen Peake's views on the legislation? Does he support it? Will he vote for its passage?
2. Will State Representative Allen Peake abstain from voting for this legislation and realize the conflict of interest because his business will be affected by the new law if it passes.
3. IF State representate Allen Peake does support this legislation and votes for its passage, what are the views and what would the course of action be by any of the parent companies that franchise restaurants to Allen Peake's company, C&P Restaurants.
It is my sincere hope that anyone reading this, especially LGBT Activists, LGBT organizations, LGBT Media and private LGBT citizens in the state of Georgia ask these questions and demand answers. And if it should turn out that State Representative Allen Peake supports the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), known as a "License to discriminate" then we as a community need to carefully consider where to conduct business in the future.
Anyone especially who has been concerned or angry with companies like Chick-Fil-A or Hobby Lobby for their discriminatory views and actions that caused many to boycott those companies should take a close look and take action on THIS proposed legislation and whether you will do business with ANY RESTAURANT owned by C&P Restaurants and the companies that Allen Peake's C&P Restaurant company franchises with.
If this law passes with the help of Allen Peake's vote, your support of those businesses is more dangerous then you ever thought buying a chicken sandwich was at Chick-Fil-A.
Bold text here may link to related articles or webpages for the items highlighted. The links were accurate at the time this blog was published.
I have been trying to get back into blogging for a while. I think I finally found a good reason to start. And I hope this reaches a lot of people and that people will take action.
And I hope that Allen Peake considers his vote carefully and makes the right decision.
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