The Raleigh News & Observer reports:
LGBTQ people in North Carolina can no longer be prevented from getting domestic violence protective orders, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. North Carolina had been the only state in the country to withhold emergency protections from people seeking protection from abuse by a same-sex partner.
That kind of protection is offered to couples of the opposite sex, and to married and divorced same-sex couples, but not for same-sex couples who are dating or who used to date. But that ban is unconstitutional, the appeals court ruled in a 2-1 opinion Thursday.
Big decision: The North Carolina Court of Appeals rules that a law denying Domestic Violence Protective Orders to same-sex partners violates the NC and US Constitutions. The court directs judges to apply the law equally, finally allowing same-sex partners to obtain these orders. https://t.co/pJB7AuXvQE
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) December 31, 2020
The NC Court of Appeals further holds that, in light of Bostock, discrimination against LGBTQ+ people constitutes sex discrimination, triggering heightened scrutiny under both the NC and US Constitutions.
Also adopts a very broad reading of Obergefell.https://t.co/vIrWuII8dA pic.twitter.com/Lfx5KKWXLz
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) December 31, 2020
The NC legislature could fix this law by simply allowing same-sex partners to obtain domestic violence protective orders, but both chambers are dominated by Republicans who openly loathe LGBTQ people and have no interest in protecting them from intimate partner violence.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) December 31, 2020