SR1752 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR1752 LRB099 21440 GRL 47501 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, On March 23, 2016, the North Carolina General Assembly ratified and North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed House Bill 2, the "Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act"; and

WHEREAS, On April 5, 2016, the Mississippi Legislature ratified and Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed House Bill 1523, the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act"; and

WHEREAS, The "Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act" and the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act" purport to establish new statewide standards for what constitutes discriminatory practice in employment and public accommodations by establishing new statewide requirements for bathrooms and changing facilities in all public agencies, including schools; and

WHEREAS, The omission of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and other categories from the statewide list of categories protected from discrimination means that not only do protections on these bases appear to be unavailable under state law, but further, that local governments appear to be preempted from offering these protections; and

WHEREAS, The legislation also appears to eliminate the right of any person to bring a civil action in a North Carolina court for a claim of discrimination in employment or public accommodations on account of race, religion, color, national origin, age, or biological sex, as well as handicap for employment only; and

WHEREAS, By enacting these laws, North Carolina and Mississippi political leaders have taken extreme measures to attempt to diminish the legislative authority of local governments and to use the laws of their states to codify discrimination and division, rather than to advance the rights and dignity of American citizens; and

WHEREAS, These laws demonstrates a lack of knowledge and understanding of the experiences of transgender people, a lack of respect for the dignity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and a discriminatory intent and a desire to use such intent for political gain on the part of the North Carolina and Mississippi political leaders; and

WHEREAS, These laws are also inconsistent with the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we affirm our support for protecting and advancing the constitutional rights and equitable treatment of all and our opposition to discrimination, prejudice, homophobia, and transphobia; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we strongly urge the North Carolina General Assembly to repeal the "Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act" and for the Mississippi Legislature to repeal the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act" at the earliest opportunity; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage all businesses providing public accommodations in North Carolina and Mississippi to demonstrate their support for the dignity of all people by openly welcoming LGBT people to their places of business and by providing gender non-specific bathroom facilities for their customers and employees wherever practicable; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge Governor Bruce Rauner to prohibit all non-essential State travel to North Carolina and Mississippi until those states take the proper measures to repeal these laws; and be it further

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