Today, one prong of North Carolina’s House Bill 142 officially sunsets, ending a years-long moratorium that blocked cities and towns in the state from protecting their LGBTQ residents through local nondiscrimination ordinances. North Carolina is home to at least 382,000 LGBTQ people, and polling shows that 67% of all North Carolinians support laws protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination.
Equality North Carolina and the Campaign for Southern Equality, NC-based organizations that work toward LGBTQ equality, urge local elected officials to pass LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances. The organizations also call on the North Carolina General Assembly to enact statewide nondiscrimination protections and fully repeal HB142, which continues to reserve regulation of multiple occupancy restrooms, showers, or changing facilities to the NCGA.
To mark the sunset of this prong of HB142, Equality NC & the Campaign for Southern Equality have launched NC is Ready for LGBTQ Protections (www.ncisready.org), a digital platform through which North Carolinians can easily contact their elected leaders and voice their strong support for nondiscrimination.
Tonight, the organizations will host a virtual community town hall event. Following the town hall, from 7:30-8:00pm ET, leaders from ENC and CSE will be available for questions from press. Reporters can click here to RSVP for the media availability.
Kendra Johnson, Executive Director of Equality North Carolina, released the following statement:
“For too long, LGBTQ North Carolinians have lived under the shadow of HB2 and HB142 – but we’ve lived without comprehensive nondiscrimination protections for far longer. With this section of HB142 finally gone, North Carolina’s cities can once again protect their LGBTQ constituents in every arena of their lives from housing to healthcare to public accommodations. These legislative protections will prove to be a seminal step towards full lived equality for LGBTQ folks under the eyes of the law.”
Allison Scott, Director of Policy & Programs at Campaign for Southern Equality, added:
“As a transgender woman and lifelong North Carolinian, I know that folks across our state have been waiting for this day since the moment HB142 passed. I’m relieved that we’ve dismantled this barrier to equality, and now, we can continue to push forward by passing local LGBTQ protections, advocating for full repeal of discriminatory laws, and calling on state and federal lawmakers to pass LGBTQ protections. Today, we can finally begin writing a new chapter for LGBTQ North Carolinians, one where no one is left vulnerable to discrimination based on who they are or who they love.”
