Monday’s City Council Meeting Should be Anything But Boring
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The LGBT community has proposed adding four protected classes to Charlotte’s existing non-discrimination ordinance. That includes gender identity, sexual orientation, family status and marital status. Those four groups would be protected in three ways: when using public accommodations, like restaurants, parks or restrooms, when using taxi cabs and when contracting with the city.
WCCB Charlotte asked two people in favor of the addendum and two against for their perspective. City Councilman Ed Driggs says he plans to vote against the proposal on Monday for two reasons. 1, feedback from his constituents. And 2, “And it’s based on a concern that I have that we are at the point of bending over so far to accommodate the needs of a very small group of people that we’re neglecting the needs and wishes of a much larger group of people,” says Driggs.
Pastor Leon Threatt is also against the proposal and plans to speak at Monday’s meeting. He says the issue is not about civil rights. “To use that language, I think, its certainly a great disregard and disrespect for those ones who labored so diligently to ensure rights for all Americans,” says Threatt.
Transgender activist Paige Dula says the beefed up ordinance allows Charlotte to keep up with peer cities across the country. She says, “These have been in place for years. In Minneapolis, they passed an ordinance back in 1975, so they’ve been in place for a long time.”
And Chad Sevearance, the president of the Charlotte Business Guild, the LGBT chamber of commerce, says council must also consider the ability to attract and maintain business. Sevearance says, “The company will protect them, but when they go downstairs to catch a cab, they can be discriminated against, or when they go to a lunch meeting, they can be discriminated against, so I think that that’s going to come into play.”
We called all city council members to get their thoughts heading into the weekend. In addition to Driggs, only Michael Barnes and Claire Fallon called back. Both said they aren’t sure how they’ll vote. There is a possibility council will decide on Monday to delay the vote.
