The Charlotte City Council extended the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance to members of the LGBTQ community at its meeting on Monday night.
The 7-4 approval vote came after several hours of public comment.
The piece of the discussion that drew the most attention was that the ordinance will allow transgender residents to use either the men’s or women’s bathroom, based on which gender the individual identifies with.
A similar ordinance was put before the council last year. It failed by a 6-5 vote.
North Carolina leaders, including Governor Pat McCrory, have voiced opposition to this action by the council and have suggested that the legislature will work to undo what the state’s largest city has done.
House Speaker Tim Moore issued the following statement on Tuesday morning:
“The Charlotte City Council has gone against all common sense and has created a major public safety issue by opening all bathrooms and changing rooms to the general public. This ordinance is impossible to regulate as intended, and creates undue regulatory burdens on private businesses. I join my conservative colleagues and Governor McCrory in exploring legislative intervention to correct this radical course.”
Lee Storrow is the executive director of the North Carolina AIDS Action Network and was formerly a member of the Chapel Hill Town Council. He spoke with WCHL’s Blake Hodge about what this ordinance does and the legal standing municipalities have to implement these changes.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines