By Penna Dexter The Georgia state House and Senate recently passed the Free Exercise Protection Act which offered protections for clergy and faith-based employers to adhere to the tenets of their faith in what they do, and allow to be done, on their property. One state senator, William Ligon, explained in the Wall Street Journal that in light of the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage, “Georgia’s lawmakers wanted to be clear that our state’s protections for religious liberty have not changed.” The bill was watered down from what lawmakers had originally written. Still, Governor Nathan Deal, who claims Christian faith, vetoed it. Why would the governor shut down such popular and common sense protections? Corporate pressure. The NFL offered threats, saying the bill could cost Atlanta the opportunity to host the Super Bowl. The cable channel AMC promised to take its “Walking Dead series elsewhere.” Disney, along with Marvel, claiming concern over LGBT individuals, threatened to pull production of the Avengers franchise from the state. Disney is known as LGBT-friendly. So at least the company’s threat shows it stands on principle right? Well, not really. At least not consistently. The Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal points out that Disney shows no such consistency. In the last five years the company made movies in places that are downright hostile to LGBT individuals. The Daily Signal listed the projects, beginning with . . .

• Last year’s release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens filmed in the United Arab Emirates where punishments for homosexual activity include fines, imprisonment, even death.
• There’s Chimpanzee, released in 2012, filmed in Uganda where homosexuals can be imprisoned for life.
• Disney has made three movies in India since 2014. There, homosexuality is a crime carrying a punishment of 10 years to life in prison.
• African Cats, released in 2011, was made in Kenya. According to the United Nations, in Kenya, homosexuality is “largely considered to be taboo and repugnant to cultural values and morality.”
• And, Monkey Kingdom, released last year, was made in Sri Lanka where homosexuality is punishable by law.

North Carolina now finds itself targeted over a popular new law that blocks cities and counties from forcing businesses to give transgender people access to the bathroom of their choice. It reverses the city of Charlotte’s transgender bathroom ordinance. Governor Pat McCrory received kudos from conservatives for signing these new protections, but the Left pulled its knives out. More than 120 corporations, have demanded the law be repealed. PayPal is cancelling a planned facility that would have created 400 jobs. Interestingly, PayPal operates in 25 countries where being LGBT is a crime. More than a dozen states have approved similar laws protecting safety and religious freedom in the past year. Mississippi governor Phil Bryant just signed one. Missouri citizens will vote on one. All face the wrath of companies seeking to check the box demanded by the Human Rights Campaign. It’s a principled stance against corporate bullying.