On Monday night, the Town of Hillsborough unanimously passed an ordinance protecting its LGBTQ residents from discrimination. The town is the first in North Carolina to do so since a ban on enacting such rules expired in December.

On December 1, 2020, a key provision of House Bill 142 expired, restoring the authority of local governments in North Carolina to adopt ordinances protecting LGBTQ residents from discrimination. House Bill 142 was the North Carolina legislation that replaced the anti-LGBTQ House Bill 2 in 2017.

The statewide moratorium blocking municipalities from enacting new anti-discrimination measures, House Bill 142, was created in 2017 as a compromise between Governor Roy Cooper and Republican lawmakers to do away with the state’s 2016 House Bill 2 – also known as HB2 or the Charlotte bathroom bill.

The ordinance unanimously passed by the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners on Monday prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression in places of public accommodation and employment. Places of public accommodation is any establishment that provides a good or service, like a hotel or a restaurant.

Any person or business found guilty of violating the ordinance can be charged with a Class 3 misdemeanor and fined $500 every day that they are not in-compliance. These penalties also apply to discrimination against people based on race, creed, color, national origin or ancestry, marital or familial status, pregnancy, veteran status, religious belief, age or disability.

Hillsborough’s ordinance does not address who can use multiple-occupancy public restrooms, showers and changing rooms. According to House Bill 142, only the North Carolina General Assembly can rule on access to those places.

Now that Hillsborough has passed new ordinances protecting its LBGTQ residents, Chapel Hill and Carrboro are expected to do the same.

Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle said the elected leaders of Orange County and the towns of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Hillsborough are ready to take joint action now that the ban stemming from House Bill 142 has expired.

“As of December, a prohibition on any local governments passing non-discrimination ordinances expired,” Lavelle said. “While there are no statewide protections covering certain groups of folks such as gay, lesbian and transgender people, local governments now are able to pass local ordinances. So, we have been organizing an effort among all of the jurisdictions in Orange County to come forward with all of our ordinances at the same time.”

Further local anti-discrimination ordinances are scheduled for review and adoption at Carrboro’s Town Council meeting on Tuesday and Chapel Hill’s Town Council meeting on Wednesday.

For more information on scheduled meetings, click here.

Lead photo via Visit Hillsborough NC.

 

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