If you’d have asked me any time prior to today what I thought were the chances that Atlanta would have landed Amazon’s prized HQ2, I would have said somewhere in the realm of, 100%.
And I wouldn’t be saying it solely because I live here, and I’d love the idea of HQ2 taking root in my city; in fact, I’m actually quite skeptical of if Atlanta were to be the selected holy land to secure HQ2. As much as people believe that the arrival of Amazon into the State of Georgia would magically turn the entire state into millionaires, there’s quite a substantial amount of proof that quite the opposite could occur, from one corporate entity holding way too much leverage over the place they chose to call home.
But I think when all the dust has settled, I think there’s more room for benefit and good to come out of HQ2 being in Atlanta than would be if it didn’t. And realistically speaking, I genuinely feel like Atlanta has a very good shot and getting HQ2, mostly because it’s a city that offers just about everything that they’re looking for: an EST time zone, mild climate that rarely has to worry about snowstorms derailing everything, a major travel vein both domestically and internationally, major hubs for both UPS and FedEx, and a pipeline into a prominent tech incubator that Georgia Tech would be for them.
Most importantly, Georgia is a state that has proven to be more than willing to play ball with big businesses, and have been willing to bend over backwards for prominent names and businesses, such as Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and the entire film industry. Without question, Georgia and the City of Atlanta would have done absolutely whatever it took to make Amazon pick them for HQ2, even if it meant royally screwing every single Georgian in the process, just to be able to say tomorrow will be better than today. Shit, one entire town has declared willingness to rename their entire populous Amazon, if they were chosen to house HQ2.
However, in spite of all the willingness Georgia would be willing to give to get Amazon, Jeff Bezos and co aren’t idiots either. They’ve made very clear the things they want, and the type of company that they are, which sure, is at times seems like it can be a cold and soulless machine of commercialism, but there’s no denying that currently, they’re pretty much the most successful company on the planet. They’re also a company that touts inclusion of all, and they’re not stupid enough to exclude anyone, as long as they’re capable of doing whatever jobs they’re looking for.
Although at no point did Amazon said that the future home of HQ2 should not be homophobic, it’s safe to assume that that’s one of those things that they probably didn’t feel like they should have had to have said. Unfortunately, the State of Georgia wasn’t really capable of reading between those lines, and just passed a bill that allows adoption agencies to reject gay couples from adopting children if they feel that their religious beliefs justify it.
I actually am a little surprised that this actually passed, considering the fact that Governor Nathan Deal previously shot down HB 757, the bill that would have allowed clergy to refuse to perform gay marriages. It’s no secret that he’s very much a person that leans hard right, but he’s also someone who happens to really, really like money, and had the wherewithal to know that allowing HB 757 to pass would have cost Georgia immeasurable amounts of money when all the large businesses would have pulled out of the state. Coke, Delta, Home Depot, Kia, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz made it very clear that they were against HB 757, and Deal did the smart thing, not just for common sense, but for the financial fate of Georgia, and shot it down.
I’m just going to make a wild assertion that this anti-gay adoption bill is one that kind of snuck under the radar of the people; the whole world is too often distracted by the perpetual shit storm that the United States is kind of mired in, politically and socially, from gun control, the Olympics, the endless investigations of Russia, and whatever else the elected guy is doing, that something like this was able to kind of stealthily sneak under the barbed wire, and make it all the way into the senate, to where it equally discreetly snuck through the door.
Or maybe Nathan Deal feels like he owes his Republican constituents a “one,” in order to make good for HB 757, so if the gays are allowed to get married, let’s cockblock them from being able to adopt children.
Who really knows why this asinine bill even came to fruition, but frankly I can’t say that I’m at all surprised at that too. It was only a matter of time after the defeat of HB 757, that some sort of consolation prize to the right would eventually emerge, and find its way through the gate.
Unfortunately for Georgia, such bigoted shortsightedness is the perfect kind of reasoning against the state why a multi-billion-dollar empire like Amazon will now consider against Atlanta. Why the fuck would Amazon want to bring HQ2, with its vast and diverse workforce to Georgia, if it turns out that maybe some of their gay employees whom might have spouses, will get stonewalled when all the want to do is start and expand their families?
Welp, it was an exciting chase while it lasted. After the passing of this kind of bill, I think now my perception of Atlanta’s chances to land HQ2 drop down to somewhere around 40%; it’s not impossible for them to get it, but it certainly no longer makes them the odds-on favorite.
And for yet another reason, I’m ashamed of my state, and this is yet another reason why people like me occasionally feel the need to cringe when they think about Georgia.
