Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Charlotte News & Observer reports:
North Carolina legislative leaders announced Monday that they’ll convene a special legislative session Wednesday to deal with Charlotte’s controversial LGBT ordinance.
Lawmakers acted on their own after Republican Gov. Pat McCrory declined to call a special session, saying he believes legislators are considering a measure that goes far beyond the Charlotte ordinance.
But Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who oversees the Senate, and House Speaker Tim Moore, both Republicans, invoked a seldom-used constitutional provision to call themselves into session at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
“We aim to repeal this ordinance before it goes into effect to provide for the privacy and protection of the women and children of our state,” Forest and Moore said in a joint statement.
Lawmakers are expected to block the Charlotte ordinance, which takes effect April 1. A special session is expected to cost $42,000 a day. The General Assembly was already scheduled to reconvene for its so-called short session on April 25.
UPDATE: Equality North Carolina reacts.
“Tonight the North Carolina General Assembly has let us know loud and clear that it does not understand the priorities of North Carolina,” said Equality North Carolina Executive Director Chris Sgro. “Speaker Moore and Senator Berger have said that they will come back into session later this week to consider legislation which would overturn non-discrimination protections across the state. This special session will cost $42,000 per day — more than the average starting salary for a teacher in North Carolina. That waste of taxpayer money is negligent. 200+ cities across the country including Myrtle Beach and Columbia, South Carolina, have already enacted protections which mirror Charlotte. In none of these cities have these protections created a public safety risk, to indicate otherwise is a lie. This is an act of political theatre and at this point Governor McCrory must stand up and be what we expect from an executive and reject any legislation that comes out of this special session.”