NC has become such an awful place, between their hate for minority voters and their hate for gays.
I don’t have the link but have you seen, Facebook I believe, the video out of Texarkana of a Pastor speaking during a “bathroom bill” hearing. Inspiring. He had the audience up and clapping when he finished called the bigots out for what they are.
I grew up with gender neutral, one door marked Men another marked Women both end up in the same place. Never has any issues and never thought about it, until High School where there were separate facilities, that was weird.
McCrory has to go. Period.
Same level of hate always existed and is likely to exist for decades. It’s coming to surface only because it’s now illegal due to Federal Laws.
The NC law, the Indiana abortion law, and all others like it, are going to be struck down by the courts. And of course, the citizens of those states will foot the bill to defend the indefensible.
Your government at work.
And a shame too, NC is a beautiful state.
Yep, we have a whole mess of that with our new Bagger Gov in KY. Only silver lining is he’ll be a one termer. KY has no recall law so we’re stuck with him for the time being.
Any lawyers here who can give an opinion on this thing getting gutted, given the court’s decision in Rohmer? In that case Colorado (with Amendment 2, I think it was called) stripped all local gov’ts power to enact protections against discrimination…
Just now:
#Georgia governor has just announced that he will VETO similar legislative measures in that state.
Obviously, he got the message from corporate America.
North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Missouri, Kansas, Alabama and other regressive states will all come around when they realize what they are costing themselves by their regressive policies.
Tech firms, multi-national corporations, big sporting events, large conventions, movie productions will all choose to go elsewhere because they understand that the point of business is to welcome MORE customers, not figure out how to drive away customers with this kind of pseudo-religious nonsense.
Great news! Anyone from Missouri can give us info on what’s hapenning with their bill? I think they’ve got one advancing thru the legislature, don’t they?
Or he’s counting on being overridden. That’s called having your cake and eating it too… What were the margins in the Georgia House and Senate?
You could well be correct. Georgia’s House of Representatives approved the measure 104 to 65, while the ratio (with 37 for and 18 against, which would be enough to override a veto by Deal ) was even more overwhelming in the Senate.
Facing the withering blowback from corporate and business interests, it will be interesting to see if the GOPers’ homophobia and TEAliban Fundie’ pandering overrides their action’s assurity of the loss of billions in business their state faces, not to mention the lawsuits that would immediately come fast and furious.
That’s an excellent question! I remember even Justice O’Connor was taken aback by the blatant hate the pro-Amendment 2 people exhibited and their arguments for why it was in the state’s best interest to ban all kinds of non-discrimination for gays. One of her strongest points was access to healthcare, visiting the hospital for urgent needs, etc. She made it clear she felt the law’s prohibition would allow some to go too far. This, from a lady who wasn’t really friendly to the idea of reading protections for LGBT people from the Constitution itself. She even pointed out in the Texas Lawrence case that the only reason the sodomy law was unconstitutional was it singled out gays alone – that had it been all-inclusive, it would have passed muster. She was against what the others did in nullifying ALL sodomy laws in the nation. I believe the Amendment 2 ruling may very well have relevance here. I’m no lawyer, though. Anyone else?
You forgot to mention Bevin’s likely and near traditional barred Kentucky Governor exit destination, but before that scheduled unhappiness enjoy Matt’s resurrected crown jewel, no popcorn for homos, tho.
The bill in Missouri, if it passes, will put the issue on a ballot so the people of the state will have a chance to vote on it to amend the state constitution that will allow discrimination. The Republicans in the state legislature are a bunch of idiots and have been for several years. The R’s in the legislature aren’t smart enough to realize it will cost the state if it passes. .
See Micah R. Onixt excellent article in the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal
1997 Romer v. Evans: A Positive Portent of the Future
[Conclusion: The United States Supreme Court held in Romer v. Evans that Colorado’s Amendment 2 violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Court ruled that the Amendment unequally withdrew regular and ordinary protections that most citizens freely enjoy. Furthermore,the Court found that the State failed to support Amendment 2 with a rational relation to a compelling state interest.Romer v. Evans represented a turning point in the use of the Equal Protection Clause to support gay-rights. The United States Supreme Court rejected a state’s democratically-approved legislation because it found that the legislation violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The decision extended the Equal Protection Clause blanket and affirmed the notion of equal protection under the law. The Court, however, floundered in its ultimate attempt to fashion a definitive precedent that advocates and critics may apply to their individual situations. Consequently, even though there remains little doubt that Romer III created significant judicial history, the lower courts will bear the ultimate burden of fashioning the decision’s identity. Courts should continue to recognize that any amendment which adversely affects an identifiable group, whether or not the group constitutes a suspect class, may unconstitutionally infringe upon the group’s ability to influence the political process.]
http://lawecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1535&context=luclj
That is a damn good read – thank you. Brought back a lot of memories.
When I was a kid in the early 80s, “faggot” was used as such a generic insult that I had no idea what it actually meant (and I would bet most of the other kids didn’t either; certainly as 8 year olds at that time we didn’t know anything about homosexuality). So one day I looked it up in the dictionary, and the only definition there was “a bundle of sticks”. That sure a hell left me mystified.