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North Carolina legislature begins $42,000/day special session tomorrow to push anti-LGBT bill

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North Carolina legislators are dead set on overturning a Charlotte nondiscrimination ordinance—so much so that they’re willing to waste tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on a special session.
 
The Charlotte ordinance is simple: it prohibits discrimination against LGBT people in public accommodations, like restaurants and stores, as well as by government contractors and passenger vehicles (like taxis). For example, a taxi driver or a restaurant manager wouldn’t be able to refuse to serve someone just because they think they’re trans or dating a same-sex partner.
 
That kind of nondiscrimination ordinance is nothing new. In fact, over 200 cities and 17 states in the country have nondiscrimination ordinances like Charlotte’s, and none have seen increased public safety problems as a result. The experience of these cities and states shows that protecting trans people from discrimination—including by ensuring that they have access to restrooms based on the gender they live every day—doesn’t come at the cost of anyone’s safety or privacy.
 
But legislators in North Carolina are treating the ordinance like a statewide emergency, convening a costly special session just to go after the Charlotte city government. Special sessions in North Carolina are rare, and come with a huge price of $42,000 a day. That’s $10,000 more than the average North Carolinian makes in an entire year. North Carolinians have charged their elected representatives with solving real problems, but legislators have opted instead to waste time and money on a made-up crisis to score some cheap political points.
 
Polls show that most North Carolinians don’t support this special session and believe that the state government shouldn’t be interfering with Charlotte’s local laws. But the legislators aren’t giving their constituents a chance to speak up or hold them accountable. Less than 24 hours before the session is due to start, the draft bill still hasn’t been made public. That means that North Carolinians won’t have time to voice their concerns about the bill—a sharp contrast with Charlotte’s careful, public deliberation open to everyone. And the costs of the special session will mean that the legislators will be pressured to rush through the debate and skip over a thoughtful discussion of the impact of the bill. South Dakota, Tennessee and many other states spent months considering, yet ultimately rejecting, anti-LGBT bills. North Carolina legislators are about to either waste tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on a failed session—or worse, rush to pass a bill with little political accountability and disastrous effects, not just for LGBT people and their families,but for the entire state.

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