NORTH CAROLINA: Local NAACP Head Vows State House Sit-In If Hate Law Isn’t Repealed by April 21st

The Raleigh News & Observer reports:

N.C. NAACP president William Barber says his group will hold a “mass sit-in” at the legislature if a controversial LGBT law isn’t repealed by April 21. Barber, whose Forward Together Moral Movement has organized numerous Moral Monday protests and acts of civil disobedience, plans to announce more details about the event at a news conference Saturday morning.

“We cannot be silent in the face of this race-based, class-based, homophobic and transphobic attack on wage earners, civil rights, and the LGBTQ community,” Barber said in a news release. “Together with our many allies, we will coordinate a campaign of nonviolent direct action along with other forms of nonviolent protest that will instruct our legislators with respect to the rights of all people.”

The N.C. General Assembly isn’t scheduled to return until April 25, so it would have to hold a special session if it wanted to repeal House Bill 2 earlier. Republican leaders have said they aren’t willing to repeal the law, which replaces local ordinances with a statewide nondiscrimination law that doesn’t include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories.

RELATED: A couple of years ago Barber delivered a stirring address to the LGBT journalists meeting in Philadelphia. Many of us agreed that he was among the best we’d heard at one of those events.