Victory! So, Now What?

First, there will be celebrations! We made incredible progress this year, and ENC will be hosting meet-ups and get-togethers across the state to acknowledge the work that our dedicated activists, supporters, and allies (you!) did to make history and move North Carolina forward in fairness, equality, and justice for the LGBT community.

The SVPA is the first LGBT-inclusive legislation in North Carolina's history. Not only that, this safe schools legislation includes language that explicitly refers to sexual orientation and gender identity, the first statute to do so. It is the most progressive anti-bullying law in the South, and now it is even being used as a model in safe schools discussion in other areas, like New York.

While this law is a huge step forward, it is far from the end of the issue. We will now be working to increase awareness of the law and its effects within the LGBT community, as well as the public at large. We need to ensure that all school districts create and follow a comprehensive antibullying policy as proscribed by the legislation.

ENC is working on developing an information packet and tool kit on this important issue. We will continue to work with you, school districts, and the NC Department of Public Instruction to make sure that this new safe schools law is implemented appropriately.

The HYA, while another great step forward in providing accurate, comprehensive sex education information to teens (instead of the previous abstinence-only curriculum), contains problematic, homophobic language that presents only heterosexual marriage as the best option for preventing sexually transmitted diseases. Equality NC will continue to work to correct inaccuracies and discriminatory language in sex ed.

Many other issues also loom on the horizon:

• North Carolina still does not have an employment nondiscrimination law that includes sexual orientation and gender identity, despite the fact similar policies are a standard practice in most major companies. ENC will work to ensure that LGBT employees are safe from unfair hiring and firing.
• Discrimination also continues to be an issue within housing, particularly for transfolks. We will try to ensure that all people will be able to find housing without being discriminated against based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
• Anti-gay hate crimes are on the rise, and we want to develop more tools to track and address this problem. ENC will try to get our community included in existing statutes around this issue.
• As marriage equality moves forward in other areas, the drive for a marriage discrimination constitutional amendment will increase in our state. Equality NC will work to hold off changing the NC Constitution to make LGBT North Carolinians into second-class citizens and work to build support for full and equal recognition of our families.
  

With your help, we will continue to work to realize the promise of equality and justice for all. Look for us around the state as we celebrate our victories and plan for our next battles for fairness. With your help, we are making things better for all of us.