Raleigh joins Wake County in enacting new LGBTQ protections

The Raleigh City Council has unanimously voted to join Wake County’s non-discrimination ordinance to expand protections for the LGBTQ community and others.

Joining the county’s ordinance extends the protections to private employers and public accommodations, like restaurants, retail stores and hotels, within city limits.

The Wake County Board of Commissioners approved its ordinance after a press conference Monday afternoon.

“We’re so pleased to see Raleigh take this historic step to expand nondiscrimination,” said Kendra Johnson, executive director of Equality NC. “Nearly 30 percent of the state’s population is now covered by LGBTQ inclusive ordinances, and this represents a great change for the city of Raleigh and the state of North Carolina. Raleigh has taken a big step forward to protect LGBTQ people, especially for folks with multiple layers of marginalization, and this only grows momentum for the non-discrimination on the local, state, and federal level.”

Raleigh City Council member Jonathan Melton said he was at the Wake County Justice Center a few weeks earlier to get a marriage license.

“We were chatting sort of briefly before this press conference about how just a few years ago that would not have been possible,” said Melton, who was one of the first openly gay people elected to the council. “And it was that moment of getting that piece of paper that means so much to me, and my family and so many others, and it was a true sign of progress.”

Wake County and Raleigh are taking another step toward progress with the passing of these ordinances, he said.

The ordinance will protect people regardless of their sexual orientation and gender expression in places open to the public, like stores, restaurants and hotels, or during hiring. Other protected classes include race, natural hair or hairstyles, ethnicity, creed, color, sex, pregnancy, marital or familial status, national origin or ancestry, National Guard or veteran status, religious belief or no-belief, age or disability.

Religious organizations are exempt from the ordinance, and bathrooms are not included in this ordinance, which is governed by state law.

Wake County's non-discrimination ordinance by Anna Johnson on Scribd