National LGBT Media Association to boycott Georgia
In response to Georgia lawmakers enacting a voter suppression law, the National LGBT Media Association (NGMA) has called for a boycott of any meetings in the US state.
The law has rules that are expected to limit voter access, especially in communities of color.
National LGBT Media Association joins outcry
The NGMA joins the widespread move by corporations and sports leagues that has decried the state’s law.
Aside from Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines, this includes the Major League Baseball, which has dropped its plan to hold the annual All-Stars in Atlanta.
Among LGBTQ publications included in the NGMA are the 12 largest in the country, like the Los Angeles Blade, the Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco), Washington Blade, South Florida Gay News, and Gay City News.
In a statement, NGMA co-chair Leo Cusimano said: “With these laws, it is now easier to get a gun in Georgia than to vote.”
The NGMA said they will not hold any meetings in the state until fair election laws are created to ensure equal and fair voting access.
Georgia’s new law to target groups of voters
Among the features of the new law passed by the Republican-led State Legislature are imposing a mail-in ballot deadline of 11 days before a primary election.
It also limits the timeframe when voters can drop off absentee ballots, while also reducing the number of drop boxes in each county.
President Joe Biden had described the law as the “Jim Crow in the 21st Century.” Ironically, the law came into being after Georgian voters had ousted then-President Donald Trump with a narrow 11,779 votes.
The voters also pushed Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff past their Republican counterparts in two separate Senate races. This later gave the Democrats slight control over the Senate.
Georgia’s new law to target groups of voters
Democrats and civil-rights group decried the passage of the law. In response, Republican lawmakers that backed bill criticized the backlash.
While Biden said the law was “un-American,” Trump said the measure was “too weak.”
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp– who signed the law in to effect last March 31– and Republicans have said the law expands access to voting. A number of provisions are set to go into effect on July 1.
In response to one feature of the law, Senate Minority Leader and Democrat Gloria Butler said Republican lawmakers “want to make it a crime to bring Grandma some water while she’s waiting in line.”
Likewise, drop boxes in Georgia’s four most populous counties will drop from 94 in 2020 to 23 in 2022.