Concerning North Carolina’s transgender bathroom bill, the legislature’s votes might cut into the weekend as they tweak the bill rather than repeal it with the new changes.
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That stalemate between HB 2 supporters, opponents and the National Basketball Association is raising the level of concern about whether the National Basketball Association will allow the 2017 All Star game to remain in Charlotte.
A lesser-known section of House Bill 2 canceled a person’s right to sue under North Carolina law on a claim of illegal workplace discrimination.
Since the controversy over North Carolina’s transgender bathroom law started in March 2016, the evolution of legislation has not only been the responsibility of state legislatures but grassroots activism.
“Protecting the safety and privacy of North Carolina families by keeping grown men out of bathrooms, shower facilities and changing rooms with women and young girls has always been our primary objective”, Berger said in a statement.
Workers may still use state law to sue employers over discrimination. “But I hope that they, and frankly any other business who had concerns about discrimination arguments, see this action with regard to state courts as addressing that”, said Moore.
Moore said the change to the lawsuit provision could appear later Friday in a technical corrections bill – typically one of the final pieces of legislation the House will vote on.
On Tuesday, someone within the Republican House Caucus leaked a proposed draft of updates to the bill, NC Values Coaltion executive director Tami Fitzgerald said, which set off “a flurry of activity”.
The league suggested it might even pull the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte if a compromise did not meet its “guiding principles of inclusion, mutual respect and equal protections for all.”
The Justice Department lawsuit seeks declaratory relief and threatens to curtail federal funding to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the University of North Carolina. Commissioner Adam Silver said this month that progress was needed toward changing the law this summer to ensure the event stays in the city. “I assume our coastal communities, especially, will not appreciate that moving into the future”, said Rep. Chris Sgro, a Greensboro Democrat and leader of an LGBT advocacy group opposed to HB2. Republican lawmakers on Friday night argued they were changing a section of the law because it has been misinterpreted. DAY 100 OF HB2: MCCRORY, DEMOCRATS HAVE “HIGH HURDLES ” Democrats are still urging the General Assembly to overturn the law before the session ends.
The bill now goes to Gov.Pat McCrory, who has said this change should be made. “If the game leaves and the franchise, the Hornet potentially leave, think of the terrible domino effect that’s going to have on our continued economic weakness”, Sgro said.
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On Friday the Human Rights Campaign said the change does not go far enough and that HB2 needs to be fully repealed. HB2 was created to block a controversial Charlotte non-discrimination ordinance, part of which allowed transgender people to use bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with, rather than their biological gender.
