City leaders in Winston-Salem on Monday
unanimously approved an LGBT protections ordinance.
Winston-Salem is the latest North
Carolina city to do so after a state law prohibiting such measures
expired in December.
According to the Winston-Salem
Journal, the law takes effect on January 1, but some
enforcement provisions won't begin until next March.
Kevin Murphy, the city's only openly
gay member of the city council, called passage “a huge step for
Winston-Salem.”
“There are several other cities that
got ahead of us from a timing perspective, but we have been working
on it as long as those other cities have,” Murphy said.
The measure adds sexual orientation,
gender identity, and gender expression to the city's
nondiscrimination ordinance, commonly referred to as an NDO. The NDO
covers employment and accommodations discrimination. It does not
address public bathroom regulations.
Passage of an LGBT-inclusive NDO by
Charlotte in 2016 stirred controversy and fueled passage of House
Bill 2, North Carolina's so-called “bathroom bill,” which
prohibited transgender individuals from using the bathroom of their
choice.
A national outcry against HB2 pressured
Republican lawmakers to partially repeal the measure.
Earlier this month, Charlotte passed a
similar measure.
Other North Carolina cities with an
LGBT protections ordinance include Greensboro, Durham, and Asheville.