Tag Archives: Equality NC

Proposed NC Religious Freedom Restoration Act – Discriminatory, Unnecessary and Harmful

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Could I be stranded in a ditch because a tow truck driver finds a bumper sticker an affront to his religious beliefs?

Could I be stranded in a ditch because a tow truck driver finds a bumper sticker an affront to his religious beliefs?


FINAL UPDATE: On April 23rd, the NC House Speaker declared this bill dead for the session after many business leaders spoke out in opposition. Link to News and Observer article.
UPDATE: This blog was written and published late afternoon March 30 and then this proposed legislation was the front page story (link) in the March 31st Raleigh News and Observer.

There is currently a bill filed in the North Carolina State Legislature – House Draft DRH40172-MM-8B (link) called the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” This is similar to the bill just signed by the Indiana governor which has been a main story in the news the past several days. This blog explains why this proposed NC bill is discriminatory, unnecessary and harmful.

Let me share two scenarios.

SCENARIO 1: While driving home across the state on a business trip, an unexpected snow storm appears and I slide off the interstate into a ditch. I call “AAA” and they dispatch a local tow truck driver. When he arrives, he sees the “Equality NC” bumper sticker on my car, and knowing what it is, says, “Sorry, I cannot tow you out of that ditch. That would be against my religion. Besides, this is probably God’s punishment on you for your sinful lifestyle.”

Could a grocer use "freedom of religion" in refusing to sell food to a lesbian shopper?

Could a grocer use “freedom of religion” in refusing to sell food to a lesbian shopper?


SCENARIO 2: A lesbian couple live out in the country near a small town with one “Mom and Pop” grocery store. When they go in together to buy groceries, the store owner says, “I know who you two are and what you are doing. Your immoral lifestyle is against my religion and I cannot support it by selling you groceries.”

These scenarios could certainly happen under this proposed law. Originally, the concept of religious freedom meant providing people a safe place to practice their faith in peace without negative ramifications, and now religious freedom has been distorted to be a license to actively discriminate against others you disagree with.

And this law is unnecessary:
• No one is forcing a Jewish restaurant owner to add bacon and pork to her menu.
• No one is forcing the Muslim pet store owner to add dogs to his inventory of cats, hamsters and tropical fish.
• And no one is forcing the pastor of small fundamentalist church to perform gay weddings (or any wedding for the matter he does not wish to perform) in his church sanctuary.

Finally, this law would deliver a tremendous blow to our economy. Don’t we want to have an open business environment where those companies deliberating on leaving Indiana or at least not expanding there, now consider coming to North Carolina? Why would we want to put a large barricade around our state that says to businesses “Keep Out”?

People of good will, and especially people who truly want economic growth for all, should vigorously oppose this unnecessary, divisive and harmful bill.

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For for information on how to be an equality “Open for Business” enterprise in North Carolina, please check out this Equality NC business webpage.

The Business-Based Case Against a North Carolina Anti-Gay Constitutional Marriage Amendment

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Note: These are NC State House Bill 777 and Senate Bill 106.

This week the North Carolina State Legislature is covening to consider proposals to amend our state constitution. One of the amendments under considerations is referred to by many as the “anti-gay marriage amendment” which would add to the North Carolina Constitution that only marriage between one man and one woman would be recognized by the state of North Carolina. It would go even further and state “No other relationship shall be recognized as a valid marriage by the State.” There are already effective state laws on this, so I wonder why a restrictive statement like this would need to be added to a constitution which by definition is supposed to define and protect rights.

Since I am a business consultant with one of my areas being diversity management, I want to address solely from a business perspective why this amendment is harmful to the North Carolina economy. I will fully agree that when something good for business is harmful to the society as a whole, it should not be done, but when something that is good for business also coincides with human rights and moral civility, it is a no-brainer. In this case opposing this amendment is both good for business and the right thing morally.

Here are the three reasons why the anti-gay marriage amendment is bad for North Carolina Business:

1. Corporations will hesitate to relocate or build facilities in North Carolina compared to other states. Most large corporations understand the value of diversity and even have programs to welcome and include LGBT People. One proof point is the major corporation Northrup Grumman almost reversed their decision to move their headquarters to Virginia when a state government leader came out with a very anti-gay stance. Other Virginia leaders had to do some major backpedaling and damage control to not lose Northrop Grumman. Link to newspaper article about this.

Is this the message we want to send from North Carolina?


2. GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) talented people would opt to move to a more progressive state that does not blatantly discriminate against them. As every state competes to have the best and brightest talent work for them, we should not erect big signs on our border that scream “Gay people not welcome here.”
3. This divisive measure is a highly-charged mean-spirited political maneuver which will divide our state and waste energy and time that should be focused instead on addressing much more pressing issues like unemployment, economic development, technology deployment and education.

To learn more about this issue and to get involved please check out the Equality NC Website.

UPDATE SEPT 6: The Raleigh News and Observer published an article that supports the content of this blog. Link to article.

UPDATE SEPT 7: An excellent 4 minute video from Replacement Ltd’s Lead Council Andrew Spanhour. Link to Video.