NORTH CAROLINA: Democrats Introduce Bill To Replace HB2 With Full LGBT Anti-Discrimination Protections

Via press release:

Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, commended North Carolina Representatives Chris Sgro, Pricey Harrison, Susan Fisher, and Kelly Alexander for introducing a comprehensive LGBT non-discrimination bill in the North Carolina General Assembly. This bill would be a companion to HB 946, sponsored by Representatives Jackson, Meyer, Hamilton and G. Martin, and SB 784, sponsored by Senators Van Duyn, J. Jackson, and Woodard.

“Rather than wasting taxpayer dollars defending an indefensible attempt to defy federal civil rights laws, Governor McCrory and the General Assembly should repeal HB2 and replace it with this common sense LGBT non-discrimination bill,” said JoDee Winterhof, HRC Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs. “This bill is an important step forward that would ensure that everyone, including LGBT people, can live free from fear of discrimination.”

“We have always known, and come to understand even more urgently during the HB2 debate, the incredible need for non-discrimination protections for LGBT and other North Carolinians,” said Representative Chris Sgro, one of the sponsors of the legislation. “This bill, along with the repeal of HB2, is the important next step that this General Assembly and Governor McCrory must take in order to make North Carolina a true state of equality and help heal our national reputation.”

The non-discrimination bill introduced today comes after Gov. Pat McCrory said on Fox News’ “On the Record” that he did not believe that companies should be able to fire someone because of who they are or whom they love. Not only does North Carolina lack such explicit statewide LGBT non-discrimination protections, but among other things, HB2 also eliminated the ability of North Carolinians to be able to sue if they experienced discrimination in the workforce, including on the basis of race, religion, national origin and sex.

Related news from the Charlotte Observer:



North Carolina’s Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives have given the Department of Education until Friday to say whether officials will punish the state for its controversial HB2 law by withholding federal funds from public schools and universities.

All 10 GOP representatives from the Tar Heel state signed a letter Monday to U.S. Secretary of Education John King, saying they are “troubled by the threat . . . (to) withhold federal funding from North Carolina in response to the enforcement of House Bill 2.”

North Carolina receives about $4.5 billion from the federal government annually in education funding.

Their letter asserts that North Carolina’s new law – which, among other things, prohibits transgender people from using bathrooms that don’t correspond to their birth sex – does not violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or Title IX regulations, which aim to ensure equality in public schools.