Raleigh, Wake County Approve LGBT Protections
- By
- Carlos Santoscoy
- | October 21, 2021
Raleigh City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of adopting protections for its LGBT citizens. The move comes a day after Wake County, North Carolina's most populous county, approved a similar measure.
The Wake County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to expand a nondiscrimination ordinance, commonly referred to as an NDO, to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The ordinance covers employment and public accommodations.
Raleigh is the 15th North Carolina municipality to adopt such a measure this year, joining Charlotte, Apex, Asheville, Buncombe County, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Durham, Greensboro, Hillsborough, Winston-Salem, Chatham County, Orange County, and Wake County. Mecklenburg County is also considering a similar ordinance.
The surge in protections comes roughly five years after the state blocked Charlotte's ordinance with House Bill 2.
Kendra R. Johnson, executive director of Equality NC, the state's largest LGBT rights advocate, said the actions signal “undeniable momentum for LGBTQ equality and a major cause for celebration.”
“At the beginning of 2021, every LGBTQ person in our state was left vulnerable to discrimination – but now, then months in, local nondiscrimination ordinances protect millions of residents,” Johnson said in a statement.
Charlotte's passage of its NDO in 2016 stirred controversy and fueled the 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. Municipalities in North Carolina have been free to adopt their own NDOs since December.