But the state legislature could override it, as opponents object especially to a provision for trans people's access to public facilities matching their gender identity.
Last night, the City Council in Charlotte, North Carolina passed an ordinance that protects LGBT people from discrimination in matters of public accommodations, like businesses and restaurants.
The measure doesn’t protect LGBT people from employment discrimination (what?), but it does allow trans people to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity. That last part has some city officials flipping out and promising to take action to strike it down. From ThinkProgress:
Last year, Charlotte’s City Council defeated an LGBT nondiscrimination law by a tight 6-5 vote, and this year, council members are once again considering a similar provision. This weekend, Gov. McCrory told two of the council members that if they approve the protections, the legislature will interveneand he will eagerly sign a bill banning bathroom access for transgender people.
Repeating the popular conservative myth that helped defeat Houston’s LGBT protections last fall, McCrory warned in an email that “changing basic restroom and locker room norms” will somehow put women and children at risk. “This shift in policy could also create major public safety issues by putting citizens in possible danger from deviant actions by individuals taking improper advantage of a bad policy. Also, this action of allowing a person with male anatomy, for example, to use a female restroom or locker room will most likely cause immediate State legislative intervention which I would support as governor.”
The passing of the ordinance is great news, but our celebration should still be tentative – we shouldn’t put it past homophobic politicians to take erratic action when their norms are challenged (you know, by expanding basic human rights to other people). Props to the activists who helped make this happen, but let’s not write this off as a sure thing.
