Charlotte NC OKs Non-Discrimination Law

" CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Feb. 22, 2016) –The Charlotte City Council approved amendments to the city's Non-Discrimination Ordinances Monday which add marital and familial status, sexual orientation, gender expression and gender identity to the list of protected characteristics in the existing Non-Discrimination Ordinances.

"I am pleased that Charlotte is now among the more than 250 cities and counties to offer similar protections," said Mayor Jennifer Roberts. "Tonight's vote sends the signal that Charlotte is a welcoming city that strives to treat everyone equally and with dignity and respect." 
The 7-4 vote came after hearing comments from more than 100 speakers. The approved amendments will affect the following areas:

• Public accommodations:  Businesses and other public accommodations that serve the public are prohibited from discriminating based on any protected characteristic.
• Passenger vehicle for hire: Taxi cab and limousine companies and drivers may not refuse to transport any person on the basis of any protected characteristic. 
• Commercial non-discrimination: Businesses that contract with the city may not discriminate against their vendors, suppliers, subcontractors or commercial customers on the basis of any protected characteristic.

The changes to the ordinance will go into effect April 1.​ "

City of Charlotte, North Carolina, press release, February 22, 2016.

Hillary Clinton's Pro-Gay Debate Statement

"You know, we - we agree that we’ve got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here’s the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single- issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it’s poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it’s the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the LGBT community, against the kind of efforts that need to be made to root out all of these barriers, that’s what I want to take on. And here in Wisconsin, I want to reiterate: We’ve got to stand up for unions and working people who have done it before... the American middle class, and who are being attacked by ideologues, by demagogues. Yes, does Wall Street and big financial interests, along with drug companies, insurance companies, big oil, all of it, have too much influence? You’re right. But if we were to stop that tomorrow, we would still have the indifference, the negligence that we saw in Flint. We would still have racism holding people back. We would still have sexism preventing women from getting equal pay. We would still have LGBT people who get married on Saturday and get fired on Monday. And we would still have governors like Scott Walker and others trying to rip out the heart of the middle class by making it impossible to organize and stand up for better wages and working conditions. So I’m going to keep talking about tearing down all the barriers that stand in the way of Americans fulfilling their potential, because I don’t think our country can live up to its potential unless we give a chance to every single American to live up to theirs"

Hillary Clinton, Democratic Presidential Debate, Milwaukee, WI, February 11, 2016.