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. It now goes to the desk of Gov. Pat McCrory, who had requested the change.
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Other Republicans have said they would consider allowing transgender people who have undergone sex reassignment surgery but were born in a state that doesn’t allow a sex change on birth certificates to receive an exception in the law by getting another document.
A spokesman for the National Basketball Association could not immediately be reached for comment.
Enacted in March by Republican Governor Pat McCrory, the law requires people to use bathrooms that correspond to their genders at birth, not their gender identities, and prevents local governments from passing anti-discrimination ordinances. The law also excludes sexual orientation and gender identity from statewide anti-discrimination protections.
Democrats complained during floor debate that the most onerous provisions of the law weren’t addressed.
‘This was the lowest of the low hanging fruit.
In a statement, Tami Fitzgerald of the North Carolina Values Coalition said, “North Carolina Values Coalition is not opposed to the reported technical correction bill that intends to reinstate an individual’s ability to file suit for discrimination under state law”. Texas is signaling the state it will challenge a Obama administrative directive over bathroom access for transgender students in public schools.
Time is running short for North Carolina legislators to change a law limiting protections for the LGBT community.
The NBA and the Charlotte Hornets have been discussing potential changes to the law with North Carolina lawmakers after hinting that the league could move its 2017 All-Star game from Charlotte due to the law. Commissioner Adam Silver said this month that progress was needed toward changing the law this summer to ensure the event stays in the city.
Thursday evening, the Hornets organization said it so far rejects the changes that have been made or proposed to the bill.
With the N.C. General Assembly poised to end its session as early as tonight, repeal of House Bill Two, which has come to be called “the bathroom bill”, is unlikely.
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“The governor has been public in what he has asked us to look at”, House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said Thursday. “But you know the process, I don’t think lends itself to pass legislation – perhaps what they might want to see”. Even democrats who supported the update criticized it.
