Cagle: Pass adoption bill without ‘religious freedom’ measure
Investigators and detectives secured an arrest warrant for Tyrone Anthony Kemp, 26. They located him and arrested him without incident at his work at a Union City, Georgia, car dealership. College Park police told Georgia Voice Kemp was processed at their headquarters and was charged with murder.
Major Lance Patterson said Kemp’s prior record was “minimal” and involved only traffic citations and misdemeanors. A motive for the murder had not yet been established, and Kemp has not confessed.
Dangerfield, 32, was the 16th known transgender person killed so far in the US this year. The vast majority of these victims were transwomen of color, as Dangerfield was. Her death occurred barely a month after that of another Atlanta transwoman. Ava Le’Ray Barrin, 17, was shot during an argument in Athens on June 25. Jalen Breon Brown, who is also transgender, was arrested for Barrin’s murder. An Athens judge let Brown out on bond on Aug. 23.
Second gay man running for Fulton County Commission
Reese McCranie is the second openly gay man to vie for the Fulton County Commission’s District 4 seat, which was held until recently by the late Joan Garner, who was the first openly LGBT individual to be elected to the commission.
McCranie previously served the city as the deputy director of communications for Mayor Kasim Reed, and is now the director of policy and communications for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
In a post on his campaign Facebook page, McCranie touted the improvements made in Atlanta during his time working for Reed, but said there is plenty of work still to be done.
“We have one of the worst instances of income inequality in the nation. Property taxes have spiked uncontrollably and affordable housing is nearly nonexistent. Our jail system is overcrowded and there are no meaningful re-entry programs for offenders,” the post read. “Fulton County has one of the highest rates of new HIV infections in the country and has a well-established pattern of public health mismanagement putting the lives and well-being of our residents in danger. I believe we can do better.”
McCranie faces fellow gay opponent Josh McNair in the special election, which takes place Nov. 7.
Georgia’s Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle doesn’t want the issue of adoption to turn into a discussion on so-called “religious freedom.”
“I don’t want us to get caught up in a religious liberty debate on the adoption bill,” Cagle told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jim Galloway. “I think that we should obviously take care of the major issue at hand. And that is, we want to expedite kids being able to be adopted in any family, a loving family, a caring family — to where they have a true future.”
The bill in question is House Bill 159, a complete overhaul of Georgia’s adoption code that hit the floor during the 2017 legislative session. On the final day of the session, the bill stalled due to an amendment offered up by state Sen. William Ligon (R-Brunswick), which offered legal protection to taxpayer-funded child placement groups that used religious grounds to refuse to place children with LGBT couples.
Cagle told the AJC he expects the adoption bill to be passed early in the 2018 session.
“I expect the committee to do its job and vet the legislation. I don’t expect the Senate to adopt a bill that they have not vetted,” he said.
Just before the bill was tabled on Sine Die, Ligon suggested to the Senate that the House had had plenty of time to review the adoption code re-do, but the Senate had not had sufficient opportunity to vet the legislation.