North Carolina: What Happened, What's Next

December 23, 2016

I spent Wednesday standing shoulder to shoulder with Equality North Carolina and their partners as we worked to repeal House Bill 2, the devastating law passed last spring that forces transgender people to use restrooms that don’t match who they are and prohibits cities from protecting their communities with nondiscrimination ordinances.

Unfortunately, we failed.

Republican leaders in the General Assembly had agreed to a deal with Governor Pat McCrory, Governor-Elect Roy Cooper, and the city of Charlotte: in exchange for Charlotte repealing its ordinance that was nullified by HB2, the legislature would fully repeal HB2 in a special session with no strings attached. Though Charlotte should never have been asked to repeal their ordinance, they did so in good faith to facilitate the elimination of this awful law.

After hours and hours of Republican caucus meetings Speaker Tim Moore and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger broke their word and offered only HB2 by another name: repeal coupled with an indefinite moratorium on local nondiscrimination ordinances that they hinted would be made permanent. Fortunately, this fake repeal was defeated, but the opportunity to do the right thing and fully repeal was gone.

Failure to repeal House Bill 2 leaves LGBTQ North Carolinians vulnerable and ensures the state will continue to suffer economic consequences as companies take their business elsewhere. Other states should take heed of the repercussions North Carolina will sadly continue to face.

Through our Legislative Action Center, Equality Federation will be working with our state partners to ensure no other state passes vicious attacks on LGBTQ people. We already know legislators in at least six states are proposing HB2-like bills and we cannot allow them to succeed. And, we will continue to stand with Equality North Carolina until HB2 is fully repealed and comprehensive nondiscrimination protections are passed.

Happy holidays!

We're ready to stand with you in 2017.

Ian Palmquist

Senior Director of Programs

More You might like

Equality Federation Accountability and Commitment to Conference Accessibility

Equality Federation acknowledges and deeply apologizes for perpetuating the systemic harm and exclusion of disabled people at our 2025 Leadership Conference.

June 12, 2025
Equality Federation Adds Alexis Sanchez and Vincent Paolo Villano to Senior Leadership Team

We are pleased to announce the addition of two effective and experienced leaders to our senior leadership team!

June 12, 2025
National Coalition of HIV, LGBTQ+ and Health Advocates Applauds Court Decision Upholding Law that Ensures Access to PrEP and other Healthcare Preventive Services

In response to the Supreme Court decision on the Braidwood case today, June 27, a national coalition released the following statement from the Executive Directors of Lambda Legal, PrEP4All, the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, the Center for HIV Law and Policy, and Equality Federation.

June 12, 2025
A young man looking up, smilingA young man smiling straight at the camera
Confident young woman standing with crossed arms.

Want To Make A Difference? Support Our Work

With your support, we'll be able to continue our work to build the leaders of today and tomorrow, strengthen state-based LGBTQ+ organizations, and make critical progress on the issues that matter most—like protecting transgender people, ending HIV criminalization and ensuring access to care, and banning conversion therapy across the country.