NC Lawmakers Announce Special Session for Wednesday to Void Charlotte LGBT Protections Ordinance

Will Spend $42,000 Per Day to Target Civil Liberties of Transgender Citizens

A recently-passed nondiscrimination ordinance extending protections to LGBT people in Charlotte has spurred the entire state legislature into a special session. Lawmakers will spend $42,000 per day to act before the law goes into effect April 1. The most contentious portion of the ordinance allows transgender people to use public restrooms that correspond to their gender identity. 

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory is opposed to Charlotte’s NDO but refused to order lawmakers into a special session, preferring to wait until a scheduled short session begins April 25. 

Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, the president of the Senate, and House Speaker Tim Moore, both Republicans, ordered lawmakers back with little more than 24-hours notice, for a session to begin Wednesday.

“We aim to repeal this ordinance before it goes into effect to provide for the privacy and protection of the women and children of our state,” Lt. Gov. Forest and Speaker Moore said in a statement. They claim the ordinance allows “men to share public bathrooms and locker rooms with young girls and women,” and labeled it “radical.”

The News & Observer notes Charlotte’s Democratic Mayor Jennifer Roberts “called the special session ‘a waste of taxpayer money.'”

 

 

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