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SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, On March 23, 2016, the North Carolina General
3Assembly ratified and North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory
4signed House Bill 2, the "Public Facilities Privacy & Security
5Act"; and
 
6    WHEREAS, On April 5, 2016, the Mississippi Legislature
7ratified and Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed House Bill
81523, the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government
9Discrimination Act"; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The "Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act" and
11the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government
12Discrimination Act" purport to establish new statewide
13standards for what constitutes discriminatory practice in
14employment and public accommodations by establishing new
15statewide requirements for bathrooms and changing facilities
16in all public agencies, including schools; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The omission of sexual orientation, gender
18identity, gender expression, and other categories from the
19statewide list of categories protected from discrimination
20means that not only do protections on these bases appear to be
21unavailable under state law, but further, that local
22governments appear to be preempted from offering these

 

 

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1protections; and
 
2    WHEREAS, The legislation also appears to eliminate the
3right of any person to bring a civil action in a North Carolina
4court for a claim of discrimination in employment or public
5accommodations on account of race, religion, color, national
6origin, age, or biological sex, as well as handicap for
7employment only; and
 
8    WHEREAS, By enacting these laws, North Carolina and
9Mississippi political leaders have taken extreme measures to
10attempt to diminish the legislative authority of local
11governments and to use the laws of their states to codify
12discrimination and division, rather than to advance the rights
13and dignity of American citizens; and
 
14    WHEREAS, These laws demonstrates a lack of knowledge and
15understanding of the experiences of transgender people, a lack
16of respect for the dignity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
17transgender people, and a discriminatory intent and a desire to
18use such intent for political gain on the part of the North
19Carolina and Mississippi political leaders; and
 
20    WHEREAS, These laws are also inconsistent with the Equal
21Protection Clause of the United States Constitution and Title
22IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
2ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we affirm our support
3for protecting and advancing the constitutional rights and
4equitable treatment of all and our opposition to
5discrimination, prejudice, homophobia, and transphobia; and be
6it further
 
7    RESOLVED, That we strongly urge the North Carolina General
8Assembly to repeal the "Public Facilities Privacy & Security
9Act" and for the Mississippi Legislature to repeal the
10"Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government
11Discrimination Act" at the earliest opportunity; and be it
12further
 
13    RESOLVED, That we encourage all businesses providing
14public accommodations in North Carolina and Mississippi to
15demonstrate their support for the dignity of all people by
16openly welcoming LGBT people to their places of business and by
17providing gender non-specific bathroom facilities for their
18customers and employees wherever practicable; and be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That we urge Governor Bruce Rauner to prohibit
20all non-essential State travel to North Carolina and
21Mississippi until those states take the proper measures to
22repeal these laws; and be it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
2delivered to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, North
3Carolina Speaker of the House Tim Moore, North Carolina Senate
4President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, Mississippi Governor Phil
5Bryant, Mississippi Speaker of the House Philip Gunn,
6Mississippi Senate President Tate Reeves, and Governor Bruce
7Rauner.