Royden Lobel: Limiting civil rights

It seems, over the past couple of years, the Republican-dominated North Carolina legislature has been trying to compete with states like Texas to see who could pass the most conservative, repressive and discriminatory laws. With the recent passage of the bill to allow magistrates to decide who they will or will not marry, North Carolina has taken the lead.

The new law, despite talk of preserving religious freedom, is clearly meant to discriminate against same-sex couples. What’s more, the broad language of the law opens up the possibility of discriminating against other individuals who want to marry.

This is a law that clearly was passed to try to limit the civil rights of a segment of the people of this state. Even the governor realized the unfairness of this law in his wise veto.

If public officials feel they cannot follow a law due to religious beliefs, they should find another job.

With the upcoming Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage and the legal actions taken by groups in North Carolina, hopefully this law promoting discrimination and inequality will be declared unconstitutional.

This story was originally published June 20, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Royden Lobel: Limiting civil rights."