Statement from Rick Glazier, Executive Director of the NC Justice Center: For all the talk of repeal, damaging HB2 remains intact

RALEIGH (July 2, 2016) — House Bill 2, one of the most damaging, dangerous, and discriminatory bills ever passed by the North Carolina legislature, sadly and shockingly remains all but intact.

The damage it has had on the state’s reputation, individuals, and businesses will now continue unabated. For all of the talk by the Governor and legislative leaders about dialogue, repeal, and repair of damage — none of that occurred and we will all suffer for this executive and legislative impotence for generations to come.

There was a time North Carolina was the progressive face of the New South, a globally competitive state with an increasing devotion to a more inclusive society. No more. For the rest of the nation and the world, we are now nothing but the face of the Old South, a global pariah devoted only to hanging onto the status quo and swimming against the tide of history.

HB 2 made it clear that we love only some of our neighbors; this legislative short session solidified in stone that image. In the end, the legislature could not even restore the full right to sue for religious, sex, and race discrimination that had existed for decades in our state – the right and time to do so are now severely restricted. So today, ironically on the same day President Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the civil rights of all North Carolinians are diminished, just like our reputation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Rick Glazier, rick@ncjustice.org; Julia Hawes, julia@ncjustice.org.