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Proponents and opponents to Alabama House Bill 56 spoke out at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on May 6, 2015. Opponent Gary Wright (sitting near podium) said the bill will allow discrimination of same-sex couples. (Erin Edgemon/eedgemon@al.com)

Opponents to Alabama House Bill 56 say the legislation isn't about religious freedom, it's about discrimination instead.

Another public hearing was held Wednesday afternoon on Rep. Jim Hill's bill, which he says, will bring clarity to current law and give judges the right to refuse to perform marriages for any couple based on religious freedom.

Hill, a Republican and former judge, admitted Wednesday that the bill was drafted because of the temporary legalization of gay marriage in Alabama in February. He said he began to receive concerned phone calls from judges then.

The Alabama House of Representatives has already passed the bill. The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on the bill next week.

Gary Wright, an opponent of the bill, said same-sex couples are seeking equal rights, but Hill's bill would allow judges to discriminate against them.

Another challenger to the bill, Paul Hard, a former Baptist minister, said the bill would allow religious-affiliated hospitals to deny access to gay couples, even if the US. Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage this summer.

He said this happened to him in 2011 when his husband was dying from injuries in a traffic crash. Because their marriage wasn't recognized in Alabama, he wasn't allowed to see his husband.

Hard said clergy already have the right to refuse to perform marriages. Public servants who are elected by and whose salaries are paid for by Alabama citizens shouldn't be allowed to discriminate, he said.

Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow, who serves on the committee, made his opinion on the legislation clear on Wednesday.

"Why would you want someone to officiate your wedding, when they don't want to be there?" he asked opponents.

Williams said the bill isn't about gay marriage; it's about protecting judges and clergy from lawsuits.

"What you want is the ability to sue someone for not doing what you want them to do," he told opponents Wednesday.

Eric Johnston, a lawyer who spoke in favor of the bill, said if the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, then Hill's bill wouldn't change that.

"This is not about equal protection," he said. "This is about religious freedom."