The Senate’s Republican leader, Phil Berger, said Senate Democrats had breached their duty and that he could not recall a similar move in his 15 years in the Senate.
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They argued no public safety risks had resulted in the more than 200 USA cities that have enacted protections similar to those passed in Charlotte.
The US state of North Carolina has passed a law which voids all local ordinances protecting LGBT rights. Mayor Roberts hopes the governor will veto it. “People like me die in there”, Goss said. “I think they will put pressure on the governor”. In the shortened debate leading up to the final vote around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Minority Leader Dan Blue (D-Raleigh) was the only Democrat to speak as his colleagues filtered out of the chamber. Critics said it was “social engineering” to allow people born as biological males into women’s restrooms. In part, the ACLU wrote: The Charlotte ordinance protected lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents from discrimination in public accommodations including restaurants, hotels, taxis and bathrooms.
The bill would not explicitly say that can continue. LGBT protections, Goss said, make it safer for her to live and allow her to the restroom where she feels most comfortable. The draft would prohibit discrimination only based on race, religion, color, national origin and sex.
The legislation could put McCrory in a hard position. They say transgender people often face threats and assaults when using public restrooms. But he declined to call the special session, saying he was anxious legislators would go beyond eliminating the bathroom flexibility. “I can not support the bill”. “It has no place in North Carolina”. “It will not only cause real harm to families, but to our economy as well”. It now goes to Republican Gov. Pat McCrory’s desk. “We are pre-empting the field”, he said. If this legislation becomes law, equality advocates at the local level are going to have their work cut out for them when it comes to passing more nondiscrimination ordinances.
During the debate, Bishop said a “handful of radicals” on the City Council passed the legislation, which he said was a “subversion of the rule of law”. Private businesses appear to be able to decide on their own how (or if) to approach transgender accommodation.
Cooper’s video does not directly mention transgender people or bathrooms. Critics said that could jeopardize federal funding for education.
Transgender people who have transitioned to the opposite sex wouldn’t be affected if they get their birth certificate changed.
They are pushing this through as fast as possible. Let’s see how upset they are about people using bathrooms then!
“This is really not about bathrooms”, said Democratic Rep. Rodney Moore of Charlotte. “We’re not participating in this effort that you make to roll back” progress and the powers of local government. “This is to advance some political careers and tarnish other political careers”.
Ordinance supporters and opponents spoke to legislators in House and Senate committees.
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“One of the biggest issues was about privacy”, Moore said. It was eventually defeated with the help of 23 Republicans, who objected to the manner in which the amendment was snuck into the bill, rather than the content of the amendment. “We would we extend that across the state?” Remaining Senate Republicans gave the legislation unanimous approval. Charlotte, he said, had passed its ordinance despite the fact that the state had never given it that authority. “They wanted to do it anyway”. Provides freedom to discriminate against LGBT community. The latter provision would prohibit a city from requiring that a contractor pay its employees a so-called “living” wage, for instance. That prohibition already exists today.
