Webster Barnaby

"It’s hateful rhetoric that is legitimated by reference to a text that he and many other people find authoritative and divine rite, but that’s just a truth claim. That’s something that we have responsibility to interrogate and to think about its effects on people," said professor Nicole Kelley

Critics say the bill, if passed, could effectively shut down local pride parades.

Critics say it poses a threat to thousands of migrants in the state whose temporary visas have expired or whose applications for asylum already are in the pipeline.