North Carolina Gov.
Pat McCrory on Monday called for a special session to consider repealing House
Bill 2 (HB2), after the Charlotte City
Council voted unanimously to rescind their expanded nondiscrimination
ordinance.
After months of
the majority of the Charlotte City Council refusing to compromise on its
ordinance offering protections to the LGBTQ community, including the
controversial transgender bathroom
and locker room protections, they decided Monday to do just that, with a 10-0
vote.
HB2 nullified all
nondiscrimination ordinances passed by cities and municipalities in the state,
as well as requiring trans individuals to use the bathrooms and locker rooms
matching the gender on their birth certificates when in government-owned
buildings. Private businesses are left to make their own policies regarding the
issue.
It also capped
the state’s minimum wage and prevented people from suing for employment discrimination in
state court, which was later amended.
The Charlotte expanded nondiscrimination ordinance offered
protections for the LGBTQ community against discrimination in public
accommodations, passenger vehicles for hire and by private businesses. It also
allowed trans citizens to use the bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity.
This prompted the state to pass HB2, which has since cost the state millions of
dollars and hundreds of jobs due to boycotts.
The Charlotte
City Council voted against a repeal in May. After that compromise attempt
failed, both Gov. McCrory and House Speaker Tim Moore both admitted a full
repeal of HB2 was never on the table.
“Senate Leader
Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore assured me that as a result of
Charlotte’s vote, a special session will be called for Tuesday to repeal HB 2
in full,” Governor-elect Roy Cooper said in a statement released shortly after
Charlotte’s vote to rescind their ordinance. “I hope they will keep their word
to me and with the help of Democrats in the
legislature, HB2 will be repealed in full.
“Full repeal
will help to bring jobs, sports and
entertainment events back and will provide the opportunity for strong LGBT
protections in our state.”
Councilmember
Julie Eiselt told The Charlotte Observer that Cooper called her
personally Sunday night to encourage her to vote for repeal.
She says
he told her, “If we cleaned up our books that the General Assembly was
motivated to call a special session to repeal (the law) and we felt this was
our best opportunity.”
The city
included a clause saying its nondiscrimination ordinance will be enacted
again if HB2 isn’t repealed by Dec. 31.
Mayor Roberts
said the vote “should in no way be viewed as a compromise of our principles or
commitment to non-discrimination.”
Mayor Pro Tem
Vi Lyles said the city council would try to pass some LGBTQ protections in the
coming year without expounding upon what those might be, but one can
assume they will not include protections for trans accommodations. The North
Carolina General Assembly remains under Republican control and to do so would
almost certainly trigger another fight.
Lawsuits
challenging HB2 will likely be dropped or be declared moot by courts should the
law in fact me repealed.
“Gov. Pat
McCrory has always advocated a repeal of the over-reaching Charlotte ordinance,
but those efforts were always blocked by Jennifer Roberts, Roy Cooper and other
Democratic activists,” McCrory spokesman Graham Wilson said. “This sudden
reversal, with little notice after the gubernatorial election, sadly proves
this entire issue originated by the political left was all about politics and
winning the governor’s race at the expense of Charlotte and our entire state.”
“Governor-elect
Cooper has briefed us on a deal he brokered with state lawmakers to reach a
complete and total repeal of HB2,” said Human Rights Campaign President
Chad Griffin. “HB2 is precisely why North Carolinians went to the polls
and ousted Governor McCrory last month. It’s time to chart a new course guided
by the state’s values of dignity and respect, not discrimination and hate — and
to ensure non-discrimination protections exist in cities, towns and across the
state of North Carolina. It’s been 271 days since the shameful and archaic HB2
was first passed, and the entire country has witnessed its devastating impact.
It’s time for state lawmakers to repeal HB2 and begin repairing the harm
this bill has done to people and the damage it has done to North Carolina’s
reputation and economy.”
HRC had previously said
there should be no compromise. So too did Equality North Carolina, whose
executive director, Chris Sgro, mirrored Griffin’s statements.
“We look
forward to working with Governor-elect Cooper to win protections community by
community and statewide,” he said, calling HB2 “wrong.”
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