Will Town of Davidson officially oppose HB2?

With the debate about Charlotte's "Bathroom ordonance" and the NCGA invalidation of it continuing to rage across the nation, municiputies in the state have begun passing resolutions opposing HB2 which invalidated the Charlotte's action.

Will the Town of Davodson follow suit?

That question was posed to Davidson's Board on Friday with Mayor John Woods responding immediately with this.

"The Town Board has not met since the passage of HB2.  It is possible we will discuss this in due time and engage a conversation.

We will certainly keep all citizens informed."

Responses from a majority of Commissioners indicate if such an ordinance does come up for discussion, it likely will be well received.

Commissioner Rodney Graham chimed in with this lengthy statement.

"I'm happy to give you my personal opinion, but it only represents my opinion.  I can't speak for anyone else.

I think it's a terrible piece of legislation.  It has been mischaracterized as dealing with bathrooms, but if you look at the Charlotte ordinance the bathroom issue was a very minor part of that legislation.  Charlotte was simply wanting to join hundreds of other municipalities across the country (including some in North Carolina and several in South Carolina) and extend protections against discrimination to the LGBT community, which is a sizable community which suffers from discrimination.

The NCGA took away those protections, and even made it more difficult for people in existing protected classes to take action if they feel they have been discriminated against.  They have made it legal in NC for businesses to refuse to provide services to the LGBT community.  Fortunately, most businesses realize that it is bad for business to discriminate against anyone, but it is shameful that it is the law of our state that they can do so.

You have undoubtedly observed the reaction of the business community to this legislation.  While facebook is not a scientific gauge of public opinion, both Tarte and Bradford are getting criticized roundly on their facebook pages for their support of this legislation, and not just by the usual suspects.

Ultimately the legislation will be overturned either through the political or judicial process.  It is unfortunate that the NCGA put the state through this embarrassment.

And yes, it is one more example of a Raleigh knows best attitude.  I'd love for people to contact their local legislators about this issue."

Commissioner Jim Fuller followed that with a simple "I agree with Rodney."  Commissioner Stacey Anderson then said "I agree with Rodney and Jim."

That gives the town a Board majority supporting opposition to HB2.  The only quesion is will they act on it.

Update 4/4:  All five Davidson Commissioners have now expressed support for Rodney Graham's comments.

Update 4/12: Davidson adds request to repeal HB2 to its legislative agenda for the upcoming NCGA session .