In North Carolina, House GOP was to make Same-Sex Marriage Illegal again

Bigots never slept and apparently, never learn.

Four North Carolina House Republicans presented a bill to ignore a U.S. Supreme Court ruling and restore the state constitution’s ban on same-sex marriage.

This bill is known as the “Uphold Historical Marriage Act”

Here's more

The bill says that the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage across the country “is null and void in the State of North Carolina.” The sponsors argue in the bill language that it’s “clear that laws concerning marriage are for each state to establish and maintain severally and independently.”

The bill quotes the Christian Bible and says the ruling “exceeds the authority of the court relative to the decree of Almighty God that ‘a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’ (Genesis 2:24, ESV) and abrogates the clear meaning and understanding of marriage in all societies throughout prior history.”

The bill would order state government to return to the constitutional amendment known as Amendment One, which was approved in a 2012 voter referendum. It also says that same-sex marriages performed in other states wouldn’t be recognized in North Carolina.

This won't pass, but my god, they stay hateful

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Here’s the entire #HB2 repeal bill

Yesterday, we heard about the HB2 repeal bill coming down the pike.

Some liked the bill, but others were not happy about the compromise aspect of the document. We want full repeal or nothing.

Well, last night, the repeal came out

Section 2 is trash though

North Carolina Lawmakers Defeat Repeal Of "Bathroom Bill" - VIDEO

GOP office in North Carolina 'Firebombed'

This is getting crazy and who knows who's behind this. To be honest, I think Trump's new age slaves did it.

Anywho, some Dems got together and raised money for the GOP to rebuild. A GoFundMe campaign raised $10,000 within four hours to help out.

NCAA MOVES their championships out of North Carolina for 2016-17

Well this cuts deep.

The NCAA has withdrawn all championship events from North Carolina because the state's hateful HB2 law.

This decision from NCAA affects all seven NCAA championship events... All of the NCAA events! They released a statement explain their stance.

Based on the NCAA's commitment to fairness and inclusion, the Association will relocate all seven previously awarded championship events from North Carolina during the 2016-17 academic year. The NCAA Board of Governors made this decision because of the cumulative actions taken by the state concerning civil rights protections.

In its decision Monday, the Board of Governors emphasized that NCAA championships and events must promote an inclusive atmosphere for all college athletes, coaches, administrators and fans. Current North Carolina state laws make it challenging to guarantee that host communities can help deliver on that commitment if NCAA events remained in the state, the board said.

“Fairness is about more than the opportunity to participate in college sports, or even compete for championships,” said Mark Emmert, NCAA president. “We believe in providing a safe and respectful environment at our events and are committed to providing the best experience possible for college athletes, fans and everyone taking part in our championships."

The board stressed that the dynamic in North Carolina is different from that of other states because of at least four specific factors:

North Carolina laws invalidate any local law that treats sexual orientation as a protected class or has a purpose to prevent discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals.
North Carolina has the only statewide law that makes it unlawful to use a restroom different from the gender on one’s birth certificate, regardless of gender identity.
North Carolina law provides legal protections for government officials to refuse services to the LGBT community.
Five states plus numerous cities prohibit travel to North Carolina for public employees and representatives of public institutions, which could include student-athletes and campus athletics staff. These states are New York, Minnesota, Washington, Vermont and Connecticut.
“As representatives of all three divisions, the Board of Governors must advance college sports through policies that resolve core issues affecting student-athletes and administrators,” said G.P. “Bud” Peterson, Board of Governors chair and Georgia Institute of Technology president. “This decision is consistent with the NCAA's long-standing core values of inclusion, student-athlete well-being and creating a culture of fairness.”

These seven championship events will be relocated from North Carolina for 2016-17:

2016 Division I Women’s Soccer Championship, College Cup (Cary), Dec. 2 and 4.
2016 Division III Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships (Greensboro), Dec. 2 and 3.
2017 Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, first/second rounds (Greensboro), March 17 and 19.
2017 Division I Women’s Golf Championships, regional (Greenville), May 8-10.
2017 Division III Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships (Cary), May 22-27.
2017 Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship (Cary), May 26 and 28.
2017 Division II Baseball Championship (Cary), May 27-June 3.
Emmert said the NCAA will determine the new locations for these championships soon.

“The NCAA Constitution clearly states our values of inclusion and gender equity, along with the membership’s expectation that we as the Board of Governors protect those values for all,” said Susquehanna University President Jay Lemons, vice chair of the Board of Governors and chair of the ad hoc committee on diversity and inclusion. “Our membership comprises many different types of schools – public, private, secular, faith-based – and we believe this action appropriately reflects the collective will of that diverse group.”

Historically, the Association has taken steps to ensure its championship environment is consistent with its values. The NCAA bans championships in states where governments display the Confederate battle flag or authorize sports wagering and at schools that use hostile and abusive Native American imagery.

The only championship events that can be hosted in North Carolina this academic year are those that are decided when student-athletes earn the opportunity to play a championship on their own campus. The Board of Governors said this decision to allow these championships – called nonpredetermined sites – to be played in North Carolina is consistent with the NCAA’s commitment to student-athletes.

Based on an April directive from the Board of Governors, which represents all three divisions, cities interested in hosting future NCAA championships completed a questionnaire this summer that required sites to provide information about any local anti-discrimination laws; provisions for refusal of services; and other facility-specific information.

A group of representatives from NCAA schools will continue to evaluate these responses to determine which locations can host future championships. These decisions, typically announced in early December, will be delayed until next year, Emmert said.

In North Carolina: House leadership drafts HB2 changes amid pressure from NBA

New HB 2 revisions are happening due to pressure from NBA

Here's more

Among the draft bill’s biggest changes is the creation of an official document that would recognize a person’s gender reassignment. The new document, which is treated as the equivalent as a birth certificate in the draft legislation, is referred to as a certificate of sex reassignment.

“An individual who (i) was born in another state or territory of the United States that does not provide a mechanism for amending a current certificate of birth or issuing a new certificate of birth to change the sex of an individual following sex reassignment surgery and (ii) resides in this State at the time of the written application may request a certificate of sex reassignment from the State Registrar,” the legislation reads. “The State Registrar shall issue a certificate of sex reassignment upon a written application from an individual accompanied by a notarized statement from the physician who performed the sex reassignment surgery or from a physician licensed to practice medicine who has examined the individual and can certify that the person has undergone sex reassignment surgery.”

The draft bill also amends portions of HB2 related to protections for employees by adding specific references to federal statutes that provide special protections for certain groups of people. Other changes in the draft legislation increase the penalties for suspects convicted of committing certain offenses in a multi-person bathroom or changing facility.

A source familiar with the inner workings of the House Republican Caucus, where legislation is typically discussed prior to being introduced for debate by the full body, said caucus members had not yet been briefed on the legislation.

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North Carolina Dems Introduce Bill to Replace HB2

Chris Sgro

Well, look what happens when justice comes calling.

North Carolina Representatives Chris Sgro, Pricey Harrison, Susan Fisher, and Kelly Alexander introduced a comprehensive LGBT non-discrimination bill to replace HB2. This bill will completely protect LGBT citizens of North Carolina.

However, NC GOP ain't done yet. They are demanding the Department of Education to say if they will take away funding from public schools and universities. These jokers... Anywho, I'm sure by next week this will be over and HB2 will be nothing but ashes.

Loretta Lynch's statement on North Carolina's HB2 - WATCH

Justice Department Sues North Carolina over Bathroom Law

Loretta laid it all out y'all!

Here's her statement

Good afternoon and thank you all for being here. Today, I'm joined by [Vanita] Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. We are here to announce a significant law enforcement action regarding North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, also known as House Bill 2.

The North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 2 in special session on March 23 of this year. The bill sought to strike down an anti-discrimination provision in a recently-passed Charlotte, North Carolina, ordinance, as well as to require transgender people in public agencies to use the bathrooms consistent with their sex as noted at birth, rather than the bathrooms that fit their gender identity. The bill was signed into law that same day. In so doing, the legislature and the governor placed North Carolina in direct opposition to federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex and gender identity. More to the point, they created state-sponsored discrimination against transgender individuals, who simply seek to engage in the most private of functions in a place of safety and security - a right taken for granted by most of us.

Last week, our Civil Rights Division notified state officials that House Bill 2 violates federal civil rights laws. We asked that they certify by the end of the day today that they would not comply with or implement House Bill 2's restriction on restroom access. An extension was requested by North Carolina and was under active consideration. But instead of replying to our offer or providing a certification, this morning, the state of North Carolina and its governor chose to respond by suing the Department of Justice. As a result of their decisions, we are now moving forward.

Today, we are filing a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state of North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the University of North Carolina. We are seeking a court order declaring House Bill 2's restroom restriction impermissibly discriminatory, as well as a statewide bar on its enforcement. While the lawsuit currently seeks declaratory relief, I want to note that we retain the option of curtailing federal funding to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the University of North Carolina as this case proceeds.

This action is about a great deal more than just bathrooms. This is about the dignity and respect we accord our fellow citizens and the laws that we, as a people and as a country, have enacted to protect them - indeed, to protect all of us. And it's about the founding ideals that have led this country - haltingly but inexorably - in the direction of fairness, inclusion and equality for all Americans.

This is not the first time that we have seen discriminatory responses to historic moments of progress for our nation. We saw it in the Jim Crow laws that followed the Emancipation Proclamation. We saw it in fierce and widespread resistance to Brown v. Board of Education. And we saw it in the proliferation of state bans on same-sex unions intended to stifle any hope that gay and lesbian Americans might one day be afforded the right to marry. That right, of course, is now recognized as a guarantee embedded in our Constitution, and in the wake of that historic triumph, we have seen bill after bill in state after state taking aim at the LGBT community. Some of these responses reflect a recognizably human fear of the unknown, and a discomfort with the uncertainty of change. But this is not a time to act out of fear. This is a time to summon our national virtues of inclusivity, diversity, compassion and open-mindedness. What we must not do - what we must never do - is turn on our neighbors, our family members, our fellow Americans, for something they cannot control, and deny what makes them human. This is why none of us can stand by when a state enters the business of legislating identity and insists that a person pretend to be something they are not, or invents a problem that doesn't exist as a pretext for discrimination and harassment.

Let me speak now to the people of the great state, the beautiful state, my state of North Carolina. You've been told that this law protects vulnerable populations from harm - but that just is not the case. Instead, what this law does is inflict further indignity on a population that has already suffered far more than its fair share. This law provides no benefit to society - all it does is harm innocent Americans.

Instead of turning away from our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues, let us instead learn from our history and avoid repeating the mistakes of our past. Let us reflect on the obvious but often neglected lesson that state-sanctioned discrimination never looks good in hindsight. It was not so very long ago that states, including North Carolina, had signs above restrooms, water fountains and on public accommodations keeping people out based upon a distinction without a difference. We have moved beyond those dark days, but not without pain and suffering and an ongoing fight to keep moving forward. Let us write a different story this time. Let us not act out of fear and misunderstanding, but out of the values of inclusion, diversity and regard for all that make our country great.

Let me also speak directly to the transgender community itself. Some of you have lived freely for decades. Others of you are still wondering how you can possibly live the lives you were born to lead. But no matter how isolated or scared you may feel today, the Department of Justice and the entire Obama Administration wants you to know that we see you; we stand with you; and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. Please know that history is on your side. This country was founded on a promise of equal rights for all, and we have always managed to move closer to that promise, little by little, one day at a time. It may not be easy - but we'll get there together.

I want to thank my colleagues in the Civil Rights Division who have devoted many hours to this case so far, and who will devote many more to seeing it through. At this time, I'd like to turn things over to Vanita Gupta, whose determined leadership on this and so many other issues has been essential to the Justice Department's work.

AG Loretta Lynch will announce Law Enforcement Action against NC over the Unconstitutional HB2

Ma'am ain't playing, y'all

See this

Basically, she said "I don't have time for your games, Trick!"

The presser starts at 3:30pm EDT

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory whines over the demands for HB2 Repeal - WATCH

Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato cancel their Concert in North Carolina over HB2

LiveStream host Protest on HB2 in North Carolina

Bloggers are posting the livestream of the HB2 Protest in North Carolina.

LiveStream reports

The North Carolina NAACP and the Forward Together Moral Movement are joined by organizations and people from all over the state to protest HB2, the hateful bill that was hastily passed by the North Carolina General Assembly and quickly signed into law by a Governor who later admitted that the bill - targeted at North Carolinas transgender community while also stripping North Carolina workers of their rights as employees - "has problems". There will be multiple streams throughout the day so make sure you click FOLLOW on the Fusion Films LiveStream page to receive email updates every time a stream goes live

President Obama thinks the Anti-LGBT laws are wrong and should be overturned.

President Obama touched on the Anti-LGBT laws in Mississippi and North Carolina in a press conference with UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

President Obama said:

"I think that the laws that have been passed there are wrong and should be overturned and they're in response to politics in part and some strong emotions that are generated by people. The U.S. is an extremely diverse society and attitudes towards LGBT people differ hugely across the country," the warning reads. "LGBT travelers may be affected by legislation passed recently in the states of North Carolina and Mississippi."

Watch

Pres. Obama says he thinks 'anti-LGBT' laws passed in NC and MS "are wrong and should be overturned." https://t.co/zOGCqrq8nJ

— ABC News (@ABC) April 22, 2016

WATCH as Gov. Pat McCrory crash and burns on Meet The Press

Pat stumbled and mumbled through this interview. Then has the nerve to talk about Black folks thanking him for HB2. Don't do it, trick! Don't do it!

Comic of the Day

Trans People of North Carolina speak out about HB2 - WATCH

NC Gov. McCrory signs Executive Order to "Change" parts of HB2

#Breaking: @GovOfficeNC issues exec order addressing concerns w/ #HB2 #ncpol #ncgov #ncga pic.twitter.com/fBt8YSkwNW

— Nick Ochsner (@NickOchsnerWBTV) April 12, 2016

In an interesting turn of events, Gov. Pat McCrory just issued an executive order that will override a portion of HB2, however it will keep the ban on trans people using public restrooms though.

Here's Pat talking about this

Porn Site is Closed to North Carolina

This is what comes up when you access XHamster in North Carolina. pic.twitter.com/4GVOmseGiG

— DCHomos (@DCHomos) April 11, 2016

XHamster just closed their site to folks in North Carolina. Not only that, but they exposed what NC peeps like to watch.

The shade is real in North Carolina.

NAACP to lead Sit-In over North Carolina's Hate Law

The HB 2 drama is causing a huge stir. More companies are boycotting the state and celebs are donating funds to help equality groups in North Carolina.

One of the big calls of activism is coming from the NAACP.

NAACP president William Barber is planning a sit-in says at the state legislature on April 21st. The goal is to stay there until the law is repealed.

Barber said:

“We cannot be silent in the face of this race-based, class-based, homophobic and transphobic attack on wage earners, civil rights, and the LGBTQ community,” Barber said in a news release. “Together with our many allies, we will coordinate a campaign of nonviolent direct action along with other forms of nonviolent protest that will instruct our legislators with respect to the rights of all people.”

Several groups will be joining Barber for the protest.

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