FORUM
Why did religious right back HB 2? _
Rob
| Schofield
I Guest
Columnist
There are a lot of mys
teries surrounding' the
recent legislative session in '
which the North Carolina
General Assembly and
Gov. Pat McCrory rammed
through a radical overhaul
of several important state
laws and local government
ordinances in less than 12
hours. '
As was noted in a post
on The Progressive Pulse
on [March 31] yesterday
afternoon, one of the most
obvious ones involves the
North Carolina Chamber
and its deafening public
silence:
"Is the Chamber ? a
group whose fingerprints
are on virtually every
major piece of legislation
that impacts the state's
business community ?
really completely disinter
ested?
"Common sense and
the rumor mill on Jones
Street tell us that this is
simply impossible.
According to numerous
observers of the kangaroo
special session, there's a
reason that the Chamber
stayed quiet ? namely,
that it was.-bought off with
the broad language added
to the bill at the last minute
to deep-six local living
wage ordinances and to bar
all state court lawsuits
against employers who fire
workers for discriminatory
reasons.
"It is a plausible the
ory. Noxious and revolting,
but utterly plausible."
The Chamber's silence
was rendered all the more
striking and perplexing by
the release late yesterday of
a massive new list of oppo
nents of the new law that
features a veritable "who's
who" of the state's and
nation's business establish
ment. This is from that let
ter:
"Discrimination is
wrong, and we believe it
has no place in North
Carolina or anywhere in
our country. As companies
that pride ourselves on
being inclusive and wel
coming to all, we strongly
urge you and the leadership
of North Carolina's legisla
ture to repeal this law in the
upcoming legislative ses
sion."
The religious right's
contradictory stance
Still, for alj the confu
sion surrounding the
Chamber's silence, the
most bizarre and seemingly
inexplicable aspect of the
"Public Facilities Privacy
and Security Act" involves
conservative Christian
groups and their silence
over one of the law's most
outrageous and least-well
reported sections.
While much has been
made of the law's treatment
of restrooms and other pub
lic accommodations and its'
affirmative ban on local
ordinances that afford pro
tections in those areas to
LGBT people, consider the
following language from
the new law as it amends
the state Equal
Employment Practices Act:
"This Article does
not create, and shall not be
construed to create or sup
port, a statutory or com
mon law private right of
action, and no person may
bring any civil action based
upon the public policy
expressed herein."
What that means, in
plain English, is that North
Carolina has officially
joined Mississippi as one
of only two states in the
U.S. to bar all lawsuits in
its state courts for employ
ment discrimination.
That is not a misprint.
From now on, North
Carolinians who are fired
from their job because they
are an African-American, a
woman or, yes, a conserva
tive Christian, have no
right to sue in state court.
Here's how worker
advocates at the North
Carolina Justice Center
describe the backdrop and
impact of this remailcable
NC Policy Watch
shift:
"Since 1985, workers
in North Carolina who
have been fired because of
their religion, race, color,
jiational origin, age, sex, or
handicap have been abler to
bring claims in state court
under the common law the
ory of wrongful discharge
in violation of public poli
cy, based upon the public
policy stated in action
based on the North
Carolina ? Equal
Employment Practices Act
(NCEEPA), N.C. Gen. Stat.
? 143-422.1, etseq.
"HB 2 eliminates state
law remedies for employ
ees who are fired based on
their race, religion, color,
national origin, age, sex or
handicap. Specifically, sec
tion 3.2 of the bill ended an
employee's private right to
sue an employer who fires
him or *her for any one of
these discriminatory rea
sons. As a result, employ
ers can fire their employees
simply because they are
black, or a female, or
Christian, without fear of
redress in state courts...
"By .eliminating the
NCEEPA as the basis for
any civil action, the
General Assembly has
severely .restricted victims
of discrimination from
meaningful redress. As
defenders of HB 2 were
quick to ppint out, employ
ees can still bring a claim
under federal anti-discrimi
nation laws, but for many
victims of workplace dis
crimination that is not a
viable option. Federal
courts are much less acces
sible because of the high
cost of filing a claim, time
consuming administrative
requirements, and the very
short deadline to bring a
claim (180 days as com
pared to three years in state
court). Moreover, the
Human Relations
Commission, which the
General Assembly has not
funded adequately, does
not offer victims any
redress unless their
employer agrees to concili
ate."
Now, consider the fact
that this action was taken
with the expressed
endorsement of groups
dedicated to the defense of
"Christian" values - groups
like the N.C. Family Policy
Council, the Christian
Action League and the
N.C. Values Coalition.
It is, in other words, a
truly stunning and almost
unfathomable development
- at least at first blush. A
modem American state has
enacted a sweeping statute
that takes its law backward
on a fundamental premise
of human and civil rights
(the right not to be fired
because of your race, sex or
religion) to the mid-20th
century (and maybe even
the mid-19th century).
What's more, it has done so
with the ringing endorse
ment of conservative
Christian advocacy groups
- groups whose members
arp now, as a result,
expressly unprotected in
state law because of their
religious beliefs!
Making sense of the
seemingly nonsensical
So what are we to make
of this amazing develop
ment? Are the advocates .
employed by conservative
Christian groups utterly
incompetent? Have they
been (as the Governor
complained he was during
a truly pathetic moment on
Monday [11] when he was
asked by reporters about
specific controversial pro
visions), "blindsided" by
the actual contents of the
bill they helped piake law
just a few days earlier?
Maybe.
Sadly, however, anoth
er more plausible and trou
bling explanation seems
just as likely: namely, that
the conservative Christian
groups made a knowing
and cynical political calcu
lation. Just as the NC
Chamber bit its tongue on
the question of discrimina
tion against LGBT persons
to gain a new power over
employees, the religious
right held its fire on giving
away the right of its mem
bers to sue for discrimina
tion so that it could pursue
its longstanding holy grail
of keeping LGBT persons
marginalized and unequal.
Rob Schofield, director
of research at N.C. Policy
Watch, has three decades of
experience as a lawyer,
lobbyist, writer, commenta
tor and trainer. At N.C.
Policy Watch, Rob writes
and edits frequent opinion
pieces and blog posts,
speaks to various civic
groups, appears regularly
on TV and radio and helps
build and develop move
ments for change. Contact
him at rob@ncpolicy
watch.com or 919-861
2065. Follow him
@Rob_Schofield
Politicians sometimes
say the strangest
James B. Primaries
and caucuses
Ewers Jr. are events that
are happening
Guest almost evefy
_ : . _ week now.
Column,st m,hasbeen
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many months
now. Barbershops, malls, hair salons and
places of worship all have people in them
asking the question: "What do you think
about this year's election?" The responses
will vary but you will always get an
answer.
Some pundits who follow these mat
ters say this year's election is like no other.
Well, probably the same can be said for the
election held eight years ago. Barack
Obama, a candidate with limited political
experience burst onto the scene to win the
presidency of the United States of
America.
Barack Obama's spirit and his belief in
the American people captured our hearts
and minds. I believe his campaign slogan
"Yes We Can" is one of the best ever. It
gave us a newfound hope in ourselves.
President Obama has made America
more inclusive and welcoming than at any
other time in our history. Yes, we can
bring your huddled masses yearning to
breathe free. Yes, we can provide health
care to all of America's citizens. And yes,
we can worship and pray together.
What has attracted the world to
President Obama is his ability to be a
bridge-builder and his understanding of
what affects the least of us affects all of us.
Even during his campaign for president,
you didn't hear mean-spirited attacks
between him and his opponents. In fact,
he made one of his opponents, Hillary
Clinton, Secretary of State. He could do
that because they both engaged in a
humane campaign.,
Of course there have been critics of
President Obama, yet he has engaged them
all with dignity and respect. Traps and
snares have been laid out for him, but he
has walked over and through them
unscathed. To paraphrase a scripture.
Psalm 105:15 says, 'Touch not my anoint
ed ones; do my prophets no harm."
Some people have been whining about
President Obama for eight years, but I will
guarantee you those same people who are
whining now will be crying later when he
leaves office. Many of us have learned
that sometimes when you are in the middle
of good, you don't resize it until you don't
have it anymore. Some didn't have health
care pre-Obama but now have it with
President Obama. Some didn't have a job
pre-Obama but now have a job with
President Obama. Lastly, some of us had
children in wars in foreign countries pre
Obama and now they are out of harm's
way with President Obama.
I have witnessed and voted in a lot of
elections over my lifetime. I have faithful
ly exercised my voting privilege.
However what we see being played out at
least on one side defies description. I will
go deep into my urban lexicon of terms
and use the phrase young people use and
say it's a hot mess.
Prior to now, I have never heard a can
didate say he is going to build a wall and
keep everybody out of a country. I have
never heard a candidate for the highest
office in the land suggest that if you wor
ship differently, speak differently and have
a different lifestyle, you are not embraced
in America. He wants to make America
great again. When was America not great?
I have never watched fights occur at
political rallies and the candidate himself
not vehemently condemn them. Instead,
his response is simply, "Go home to
mama" or "Get them out of here."
Recently, I watched an NBC reporter
ask this samecandidate about the Ku Klux
, mm ^
Klan. His response was he
needed a little more informa
tion about the group and its
leadership. This was unbe
lievable that anyone could
give that response. Yet this
candidate leads the race for
the Republican Party nomi
nation.
I will simply join the
chorus when 1 say that the
Grand Old Party is in sham
bles and disarray. Many
years ago, my Spanish
teacher at Atkins High
School, Dr. Madeline Scales,
would use the term "shell
shocked" when our answers
were not correct. Well the
Republican Party is officially
"shell shocked."
It started when Barack 1
Obama was elected to his
first term as President of the United States
of America. It continued when
Republican Congressman Joe Wilson said,
"You lie" on September 9,2009 during the
State of The Union address. This
Republican shell-shocked mindset contin
ued when The Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed
into law on March 23,2010. All of this is
simply emboldened by the coolness,
aplomb and human touch that President
Obama displays when he interacts with
people and deals with the issues of the day.
The Republicans are disorganized, dis
jointed and disgraced by what is happen
ing today. It is my opinion that the GOP
paid way too much attention to President
Barack Obama and trying to stop him.
Their unified and collective mantra
was "No- we can't" instead of "Yes we
can" for the good of this country. Their
constant no refrain meant they weren't
paying attention to what was happening to
their party. Donald Trump was happening
to their party. As a result, they got a can
didate straight from a variety show as their
choice for the most important office in the
world. C'mon man, just c'mon. He
slipped through the cracks and now is on
public display every day.
Some traditional Republicans like for
mer Republican presidential candidate
Mitt Romney have tried to stop him. So
far it hasn't worked. I am reminded of the
song by Johnny Mathis and Deniece
Williams entitled, 'Too much, too little,
too late." I may be wrong. We'll just have
to wait and see as the Republican National
Convention is just around the comer.
James B. Ewers Jr. EdD. is a former
tennis champion at Atkins High School in
Winston-Salem and played college tennis
at Johnson C Smith University where he
was all-conference for four years.
He is the President Emeritus of The
Teen Mentoring Committee of Ohio and a
retired college administrator. He can be
reached at ewers.jrS6@yahoo.com.
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