Hollywood is joining together to oppose a bill sitting on Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s desk considered to be against the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, called the Free Exercise Protection Act or HB 757.

Last week, the Georgia Assembly overwhelmingly passed the bill, which would allow faith-based organizations to refuse to provide services that violate any faith-based organization’s sincerely held religious belief. Hollywood is largely calling the bill discriminatory.

On Saturday, the Human Rights Campaign urged Hollywood to boycott the bill, and Hollywood is responding in force.

Included among the protesters so far are companies 21st Century Fox, AMC, Comcast NBC Universal, Discovery Communications, Lionsgate, MGM, Sony Pictures, the National Football League, The Walt Disney Co., The Weinstein Company, Time Warner and Viacom.

Time Warner — which owns Turner Broadcasting operating out of Atlanta, with such networks as CNN, TNT and TBS — has strong business interests in the state.

“All of our divisions — HBO, Warner Bros. and Turner — have business interests in Georgia but none more than Turner, an active participant in the Georgia Prospers campaign, a coalition of business leaders committed to a Georgia that welcomes all people,” said Time Warner in a statement. “Georgia bill HB 757 is in contradiction to this campaign, to the values we hold dear, and to the type of workplace we guarantee to our employees. We urge Governor Deal to exercise his veto.”

Disney, which owns superhero film factory Marvel, put out a statement saying “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.”

Likewise, The Weinstein Company said it would pull out of plans to film Lee Daniels’ new film in Georgia later this year should bill HB 757 pass. “We hope Governor Deal will veto bill HB 757 and not allow sanctioned bigotry to become law in Georgia.”

Nearly 40 prominent producers and talent also are opposing the bill, including Greg Berlanti, Matt Bomer, Diablo Cody, Lee Daniels, Anne Hathaway, Seth MacFarlane, Ryan Murphy, Rob Reiner, Aaron Sorkin, Marisa Tomei, Bob and Harvey Weinstein. All of those signed a letter presented to Governor Deal by the Human Rights Campaign.

Georgia has a robust TV and film production economy, offering significant tax credits to companies who choose to operate there. Last year, nearly 250 film and TV productions were shot in the state, generating an economic impact of $6 billion, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development as reported by THR.

Deal has to make a decision by the bill’s deadline of May 3. If he doesn’t actively veto the bill, it will become state law.

READ MORE: The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety

[Image courtesy of the AP via Variety]

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