North Carolina Governor signs vile LGBT protection-voiding bill
The Governor of North Carolina has signed into law a vile bill which voids all local laws protecting LGBT people.
Last night the US state of North Carolina passed the law which voids all local ordinances protecting LGBT rights.
The bill, HB 2, which was passed by the General Assembly with 83-24, and after only three hours of debate.
The Senate also passed the bill, which will went to Governor Pat McCrory.
As he called for the legislation, the Governor signed the bill, shortly after it was passed.
“The basic expectation of privacy in the most personal of settings, a restroom or locker room, for each gender was violated by government overreach and intrusion by the mayor and city council of Charlotte,” McCrory said in a statement, adding that the local ordinances “defy common sense and basic community norms.”
Before the senate voted 32-0, eleven Democrats in the Republican-controlled Senate, walked out in an unprecedented move.
They walked out rather than debate the bill.
Members were also only given five minutes to read it before a rushed debate, and a vote.
Democrats in the House also criticised the bill for taking away protections from those who need it most.
The bill was passed after lawmakers called a special session to debate it, rather than waiting until the next sitting at the end of April.
It specifies that all local nondiscrimination ordinances are now void.
The Charlotte City Council last month passed a bill that among other things, would have allowed people to use bathrooms, locker rooms and changing facilities based on their gender identity.
The measure – which passed 7-4 – would have also offered greater protection based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It is now void.
HB 2 also states all employment discrimination ordinances, minimum wage ordinances, and public accommodations ordinances must come from the state’s General Assembly.
This means local politicians are unable to provide protections in these areas.
North Carolina has been criticised by LGBT rights groups for moving hastily to try to end the protections.
As with similar legislation in other states, businesses have moved quickly to say the state will be boycotted now that the bill has passed, and been signed into law.
