The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina is preparing litigation against the state over a recent bill blocking towns and cities from passing anti-discrimination measures.
Governor Pat McCrory signed House Bill 2 late Wednesday night, several hours after the legislature gave final approval during a one-day special session lawmakers called to address the issue.
Response to the bill was swift. Some major corporations, including Red Hat, American Airlines, IBM and Paypal, have spoken out against it. The NCAA also said it would be monitoring North Carolina’s next steps closely. Protests in Raleigh and Asheville drew hundreds.
Sarah Preston, acting Executive Director of the ACLU of NC says the group is preparing a legal challenge. She says the bill was born out of animus towards the LGBT community and could put the state at risk of losing Title IX funding.
Frayda Bluestein of the UNC School of Government has written extensively on the power structure that exists between North Carolina’s legislature and local municipalities. She says the General Assembly was well within its authority to preempt Charlotte’s ordinance.
But she says whether the GA acted constitutionally is a separate matter. So whether or not a lawsuit could succeed will depend on what grounds the bill is being challenged on, and will then be up to the courts.
Other individual LGBT activists including myself and readers of Back2Stonewall.com are working separately to convince television and movie productions in the state to move their productions and are calling on musicians and bands to cancel their upcoming dates in the bigoted anti-gay state.
Television and movie productions include: Three Billboards, Shots Fired, Dirty Dancing (TV Remake), HGTV’s Love It or List It and TNT’s Good Behavior.
Upcoming concerts include: Cyndi Lauper, Beyoncé, Demi Lavato and Nick Jonas.
We ask you all to join is in reaching out to the following artist and productions and ask them to cancel their work in North Carolina and stand in solidarity with us for LGBT civil rights.