After years of delay & billions of dollars, Charlotte NC finally passes LGBTQ nondiscrimination law

Charlotte, North Carolina has passed an ordinance to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity after years of delays and billions of dollars.

Five years ago, when the city tried to pass an inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance, Republican state legislators reacted with a series of anti-LGBTQ laws that prohibited cities from passing nondiscrimination ordinances and banned transgender women from public restrooms.

Related: Jasmine Beach-Ferrara is a gay Democrat running in North Carolina. Here’s how she says she can win.

The move sparked immediate nationwide condemnation. Sporting events were moved out of state, concert and conference contracts were canceled, and companies across the Fortune 500 quickly castigated lawmakers.

While the move was intended to demonize the transgender community, it ended up galvanizing the fight for transgender rights as Americans took notice of the issues facing the community. Every poll showed that most people thought it was a non-issue and supported the rights of trans people to pee in peace.

Then-Gov. Pat McCrory (R), one of the bill’s most vocal supporters, was voted out of office after the debacle by a Democrat who promised to repeal it. An analysis by the Associated Press one year after the bill passed found it had cost the state more than $3.76 billion.

A compromise deal struck by Gov. Roy Cooper (D) got rid of the most well-known provision of House Bill 2 that required…

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