What the Supreme Court decision means for LGBTQ rights in North Carolina

The Supreme Court’s landmark decision protecting LGBTQ employees from discrimination is a major victory, but LGBTQ people in North Carolina are still not protected outside the workplace, advocates said Monday.

The Supreme Court voted 6-3 that Title VII, a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that bans discrimination on the basis of sex, includes LGBTQ employees. The law also protects workers on the basis of race, color, religion and national origin.

But the decision doesn’t do much to protect marginalized groups in North Carolina, advocates said.

HB 142, a controversial 2017 North Carolina state law, bans local governments until Dec. 1 from enacting anti-discrimination policies to protect groups that are not specifically mentioned in the Civil Rights Act.

“This is a win for the workplace, but it doesn’t regulate health care, access to rental property, restrooms, health-care settings or credit,” said Kendra Johnson, the executive director of Equality North Carolina, an LGBTQ advocacy organization. “We still got our work cut out for us.”

HB 142 reverses the now overturned 2016 HB2 law that required transgender people to use bathrooms in government-owned buildings that matched their sex assigned at birth. But the new law still forbids cities and counties from making their own rules about bathrooms and other anti-discrimination policies.

What’s next for North Carolina?

The next step to achieving equality for LGBTQ people in North Carolina, Johnson said, is passing the state Equality for All Act. The bill, proposed in 2016, would protect North Carolinians not included in the Civil Rights Act on the basis of age, disability, marital status, familial status or military or veteran status. The federal Equality Act would also protect LGBTQ people from discrimination of any kind.

“As a Black, out lesbian, this is so important because we’re fighting on so many multiple fronts,” said Bishop Tonyia Rawls, the pastor of Sacred Souls Community Church in Charlotte and the founder and director of Charlotte’s Freedom Center for Social Justice. “North Carolina has an opportunity with our Democratic governor and our Republican Senate and House to say it is possible to advance protections and justice for all.”

Rep. Allison Dahle, a Wake County Democrat in the state House of Representatives, said North Carolina would have to reverse parts of HB 2 and HB 142 to fully protect gay and transgender people inside and outside the workplace.

“I’m excited about how this could help the future of everybody in North Carolina, because in North Carolina, everybody needs to be viewed as, treated as and looked upon as equal,” Dahle said.

Supreme Court decision falls short, activists say

The new federal LGBTQ employee protections only apply to workers at businesses with at least 15 employees, according to the Supreme Court decision. Small-business employees can still be fired, disciplined or turned down from a job because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The decision also does not protect gay and transgender people with other marginalized identities, said the Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, the executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality. For example, Black LGBTQ Southerners still deal with racism and policy brutality, she said.

“This is Pride Month, and this was an incredible gift,” said Johnson, the executive director of Equality North Carolina. “But most of the pride organizations are standing in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement across the country, because we know the LGBTQ community is part of every community and Black and brown LGBTQ folks are disproportionately targeted by the police as well.”

This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 5:30 AM.