Charlotte Refuses to Be Blackmailed By North Carolina GOP, NCRLA and Chamber of Commerce

LGBT North Carolinians are quickly discovering who their friends are and who is only to happy to throw them under the bus in the interest of making a buck.  As previously noted, the North Carolina restaurant and lodging workers association is only too ready to cast LGBT North Carolina citizens under the bus.  Working hand in hand with them is the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce which similarly puts money ahead of the rights of minorities.   Thankfully, the Charlotte City Council made it clear today that it will not repeal its ordinance granting LGBT individuals in exchange for the North Carolina GOP's likely disingenuous promise that HB2 will be repealed if Charlotte throws it LGBT citizens to the wolves, or more accurately Christofascists wrapping their hate and bigotry in the cloak of religiosity.  A piece in the Charlotte Observer looks at the City Council's action.  Here are highlights:

Despite pressure from business leaders, Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts said Monday that at least for now, repealing the ordinance that led to House Bill 2 is off the table.

And in a memo, the city attorney said the city doesn’t have to act in order for the General Assembly to repeal HB2. Legislative leaders had made dropping the city’s ordinance a condition for repealing HB2.

“Some people don’t realize there’s no legal reason for Charlotte to do anything, and that’s the point we want to make clear to the community,” Roberts told the Observer.

In response, Gov. Pat McCrory and Republican legislative leaders blamed Roberts – and Attorney General Roy Cooper, the Democratic candidate for governor.

House Speaker Tim Moore of Kings Mountain said city leaders want to “play politics.”

“There’s going to be discussions that occur down the road,” Moore told reporters in Raleigh. “But the first step for anything is that the Charlotte City Council, which started all of this, has to at least acknowledge and rescind what they did. … And frankly, the mayor of Charlotte could care less what happens with sports.”

The ordinance nullified by HB2 extended anti-discrimination protection to the LGBT community and would have allowed transgender people to use the bathroom or locker room of their gender identity in schools and government facilities.

Roberts’ comments came after a news conference in which State Rep. Chris Sgro, a Guilford County Democrat and executive director of gay rights group Equality NC, called HB2 “the worst anti-LGBT law in the nation.” He and other LGBT activists accused Republican leaders of “holding Charlotte hostage.”

A Cooper spokesman said the “new round of finger-pointing is ridiculous.”

“Unfortunately, Gov. McCrory just doesn’t seem to want to fix this,” said Ford Porter.

“The governor needs to stop playing politics with our economy and call a special session to end this now by repealing HB2.”

Supporters of repealing the ordinance had worked furiously over the weekend and Monday to line up votes in favor of repeal. They lobbied three at-large Democrats: James Mitchell, Vi Lyles and Julie Eiselt. It appears unlikely that there are enough votes to rescind the ordinance. Six would be needed unless Roberts vetoed the move. Then it would take seven votes to override the veto.

 Like Roberts, council member Vi Lyles said the state doesn’t legally need the city to do anything.

City Attorney Bob Hagemann agreed. In the memo to Roberts and the council, he said the council’s failure to repeal the ordinance “is in no way a legal obstacle or impediment to the General Assembly’s ability to modify or repeal House Bill 2 as it deems appropriate.”

Kimberly Reynolds, executive director of the Democratic Party, said McCrory should “quit holding our economy hostage.”  “The economic damage facing our state is being caused by HB2 – nothing else,” she said.

Let's be perfectly clear.  100% of the blame for the economic damage that North Carolina is suffering lies at the feet of the North Carolina Republican Party, not the Charlotte City Council.  HB2 was passed by the North Carolina GOP in a crude and mean spirited effort to energize the Christofascist vote.   Now, the entire state is suffering because of cynical behavior of the North Carolina GOP and, thankfully, citizens seem to be recognizing that the real solution is to vote Republicans out of office.

As for the NCRLA and the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, I recommend that anyone going to North Carolina - the state should be avoided completely, if possible - do their homework and only patronize restaurants, hotels and merchants who do NOT belong to these associations.  It may take some homework, including contacting hotels and asking the question.  They have shown how little they care about LGBT rights and equality.  Do not spend your money at their members' businesses. 

Chamber of Commerce Gives Ultimatum to GOP

As the Republican Party doubles down in its self-prostitution to angry white Christofascists and white supremacists - the twin pillars of today's GOP - the party is increasingly alienating the business community despite its efforts to enrich large corporations and protect the very wealthy.  Some of those disgusted with the GOP's racism and anti-immigrant platform are businesses, as in the chambers of commerce across America.  Now, Tom Donohue (pictured above), the President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has laid down an ultimatum to the Republicans: don't even field a presidential candidate in 2016 unless Congress passes immigration reform this year.  The move is in keeping with the Chamber's growing effort to defeat Tea Party/Christofascist challengers in GOP primaries.  Here are excerpts from Politico on this bold ultimatum:

The GOP shouldn’t even field a presidential candidate in 2016 unless Congress passes immigration reform this year, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said Monday.

“If the Republicans don’t do it, they shouldn’t bother to run a candidate in 2016,” Donohue joked at an event on infrastructure investment in D.C. “Think about that. Think about who the voters are. I just did that to get everybody’s attention.

Donohue, whose group has spent months pushing House Republicans to support immigration legislation, was speaking about what he thought a dysfunctional Congress could still get done in 2014.

“You think Congress can get immigration reform done this year, in an election year?” moderator Eamon Javers asked Donohue.  “Yes, yes,” Donohue replied.

National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons said he also thought immigration reform could pass this year, perhaps in a lame-duck session.

“This is a unified position of the business community,” Timmons said.

Reform backers have focused on the weeks before the August recess as a time when the House could move on immigration. A bipartisan bill that included a pathway to citizenship, increased border enforcement and increased levels of legal immigration passed the Senate last year.

The efforts have drawn fierce opposition from conservatives, whose objections include concern about proposals to offer a pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Some also argue that parts of the bill would hurt employment for U.S. citizens.

The GOP talks about its "big tent," but the tent keeps on shrinking as too many in the party continue to drink the Christofascist/Tea Party Kool-Aid.

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Arizona Gay Discrimination Law Pits Big Business Against GOP Base

While I do not like Arizona Governor Jan Brewer whatsoever, it is somewhat delicious to see her find herself caught in a war between the Christofascists of the GOP base and big business which ultimately finances statewide and national campaigns.  And as Ken Cuccinelli discovered last year, extremism on social issues does not play well with big business outside of the circle of the Koch brothers and a few others.  Hence, Brewer faces being attacked by spittle flecked Christofascists if she vetoes SB 1062 on the one hand and alienating big business if she doesn't veto it.  Towleroad looks at the big businesses, including Apple and Marriott which are putting demands on Brewer for a veto of SB 1062.  Here are excerpts:

Earlier today we reported that the Arizona Chamber of Commerce was leading a call for Governor Jan Brewer to veto SB 1062, the heinous bill that would allow businesses to discriminate against gays based on religious beliefs.

Companies have been signing on all day and now Apple has joined the 83 other companies calling for a veto of the bill, the Arizona Capitol Times reports:

Brewer spokesman Andrew Wilder said the governor spoke on the phone with the company.

The request comes as Apple prepares to open a new sapphire glass manufacturing plant in Mesa. The plant, which Brewer and other political leaders have touted as economic development coup for Arizona, will employ about 700 full-time employees.

Also, Marriott, American Airlines, and the National Business Inclusion Consortium (NBIC) have called on Brewer to veto the bill. Scott Wooledge is keeping tabs on the state's top businesses insofar as who has urged a veto or taken a position on the bill.

Both Arizona Senators McCain and Flake have urged a veto. Three Republican state senators who originally voted for the bill have decided it was a mistake.

Obviously, I hope Brewer vetoes this foul piece of legislation which seeks to give far right Christians special rights and open a flood gate of anti-gay discrimination. 

Will Arizona's "License to Discriminate Bill" Backfire

The far right and the Christofascists in Arizona are gushing with joy over the Arizona legislature's passage of the "license to discriminate bill" that is headed to Gov. Jan Brewer's desk.  Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce and business groups are aghast that, if passed into law, the bill would savage Arizona's economy and perhaps even jeopardize the state 's scheduled hosting of the Super Bowl.  In addition, some believe the law which is so blatantly targeted at gays could (i) end up eventual before the U.S. Supreme Court and lead to an expanded version of the ruling in Romer v. Evans, or (ii) influence the result in cases now pending before the Court where Christofascists are demanding special rights.  Should something like this happen, the Christofascists will have shot themselves in the longer term.  Think Progress looks at the possibility.  Here are highlights:

Arizona is likely to give many business sweeping new rights to discriminate against LGBT people. Yet, by calling attention to the link anti-gay groups hope to forge between “religious liberty” and a right to anti-gay discrimination, this bill could unintentionally wind up advancing the cause of women’s health and potentially even rescue LGBT people from similar efforts to protect discrimination in the future. Or, to be more precise, it could have that effect if Justice Anthony Kennedy is paying attention to what’s going on in Arizona.

A bill currently awaiting Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s (R-AZ) signature or veto has been labeled a “license to discriminate” and “state-sanctioned discrimination towards the LGBT community.” The Arizona Republic urged Brewer to veto it because it would “allow businesses to refuse service to gays and lesbians on religious grounds.” Yet, what is most striking about the bill is how closely it tracks a pair of cases currently pending in the Supreme Court that, at least on the surface, have little to do with gay rights — and everything to do with whether employers can deny birth control to their employees.

A key issue in this case is whether the Supreme Court will allow for-profit corporations to raise a religious liberty claim — something that no court had ever agreed to until religious employers started objecting to these particular birth control rules.

Current Arizona law closely tracks the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which forms the basis of the plaintiffs’ strongest claims in Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood. The bill on Brewer’s desk would amend Arizona’s religious liberty law in several ways, but the most significant change is new language expanding the scope of who is allowed to claim they are immune to complying with state law on religious grounds. Should Brewer sign the bill, “ANY INDIVIDUAL, ASSOCIATION, PARTNERSHIP, CORPORATION, CHURCH, RELIGIOUS ASSEMBLY OR INSTITUTION, ESTATE, TRUST, FOUNDATION OR OTHER LEGAL ENTITY” will be eligible to make religious liberty claims.

What’s significant about the debate over the Arizona bill is that it drives home the fact that allowing corporations to claim religious exemptions to the law is not just about birth control — it’s also about whether businesses with anti-gay owners will have the right to discriminate against LGBT customers or even LGBT workers. Indeed, the bill’s proponents don’t even really try to hide this fact.

[D]espite his largely conservative record on the bench, there are a handful of issues where Kennedy has genuinely moderate views — and on these issues, he quite often votes with the court’s more liberal bloc. Gay rights is one of these issues. Indeed, Kennedy’s written with genuine compassion toward gay men and lesbians in his three major gay rights opinions.

The last time a conflict between gay rights and religious conservatives reached the Supreme Court, Kennedy broke with his fellow conservatives and sided with gay equality.  

[I]f Kennedy views Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood and a broad attack on the idea that religious employers have to comply with the law, and specifically, with laws protecting gay people, then he is much more likely to uphold the birth control rules. 

The plaintiffs’ legal theory in Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood would, in the words of a brief filed by attorneys from Lambda Legal, “mark a sea change – not only in allowing business owners’ religious views about family planning to burden decisions employees are entitled to make for themselves, but also in opening the door to similar denials of equal compensation, health care access, and other equitable treatment for LGBT people, persons with HIV, and anyone else whose family life or health need diverges from their employers’ religious convictions.” If birth control loses in Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood, it is all but certain that gay rights will be next on the chopping block.

The bill on Brewer’s desk drives this fact home better than any brief or legal argument possibly could. Supporters of both gay rights and women’s health should hope that Kennedy is paying attention to Arizona.

Alabama - A Test Case of Whether the Tea Party Can Be Killed

It's ironic that business interest within the GOP could not see the monster they were allowing to be created when the Christofascists and later the Tea Party (which mostly Christofascists hiding behind a different moniker) were allowed to infiltrate the GOP base.  Now that the cancer of these people is causing the GOP to suffer metastasizing cancer like symptoms, the GOP business community has seemingly finally begun to wake up and try to reclaim the GOP from the crazy people.  Will it work?  Only time will tell.  A piece in the New York Times looks at a struggle in my old home town of Mobile, Alabama, to stop a lunatic Tea Party candidate.  Note how the bulk of the Tea Party supporters are far right Christians.  Here are story excerpts:

With only days to go before a special Republican primary runoff for Congress here in South Alabama, the national business lobby is going all in. 

In the first test of its post-government-shutdown effort to derail Tea Party candidates, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce put on a rally on Tuesday in the warehouse of an aluminum plant to show its support for Bradley Byrne, a lawyer and former Republican officeholder. 

Companies as diverse as Caterpillar and AT&T have also sent in a last-minute flurry of donations. The goal, backers of Mr. Byrne said, is to elect not just a Republican, but the right kind of pro-business one. 

Dean Young, the Tea Party-backed businessman who is running against Mr. Byrne, seems only to be reveling in his opponent’s establishment, big-money support, repeatedly praising Senator Ted Cruz of Texas for leading the way to the government shutdown and saying that if he wins it will be in the face of “the entire Republican establishment.” 

Republican consultants and voters here say that the zeal of Mr. Young’s Christian conservative supporters puts the outcome of the runoff at even odds, suggesting that the fight over control of the Republican Party is likely to be long, hard and unpredictable. 

It is a reality that has some of the Washington lobbyists and political consultants who are helping orchestrate the anti-Tea Party push concerned, particularly given that extreme conservatives tend to be more reliable voters. 

Mr. Young’s voters are drawn by his declaration that homosexuality “always has been, always will be” wrong, his full backing of using a government shutdown “to stop Obamacare,” and his insistence that people “have the right to acknowledge God in schools and in the public square.”

Supporters of moderate Republican candidates worry about whose voters will turn out.

They [business interests] are increasingly concerned that a core group of anti-establishment conservatives in the House is threatening to derail their agenda, not just in terms of keeping the government open for business, but also when it comes to passing a comprehensive new immigration law, revising the nation’s tax code and making changes to the health care law, instead of just trying to kill it. 

Rob Engstrom, the chamber’s national political director, explained this strategy on Tuesday, when he flew in to endorse Mr. Byrne, standing on a stage next to him at the warehouse in Foley. 

“The No. 1 goal of the U.S. Chamber’s political program is to protect the pro-business majority in the House of Representatives,” Mr. Engstrom said to the crowd. “In addition to protecting that majority, we are also very interested in what is the composition of that majority. We want to find candidates who come from the private sector, we want to find candidates who come from the chamber family.” 

Recent elections in Alabama have proved that politicians with a strong Christian conservative following can win big races, even when significantly outraised. Aware of this, some in the Byrne camp have quietly reached out to Democrats, hoping to attract non-Republicans to the polls. But it is unclear whether that will happen, or would be enough.  

As the Christofascists have risen in power in the Alabama GOP, the state has become crazier and crazier.   Indeed, in some ways Alamaba was more moderate during George Wallace last term as governor than it is now.  That's pretty scary.

Indianapolis Chamber Of Commerce Opposes Same-Sex Marriage Ban

This blog has long argued that state sponsored homophobia and bans on gay equality are bad for business.  And, as more states allow gay marriage, those that do not will find themselves in an increasingly uncompetitive position when it comes to recruiting new businesses and attracting entrepreneurs and the so-called "creative class."  Homophobia likewise makes regions of states less competitive than more gay friendly cities and counties - e.g., backward and homophobic Martinsville, Virginia, has once again been awarded the distinction of having the highest level of unemployment in Virginia.  Apparently, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerces recognizes this reality and has come out against a move by Christofascists and Republicans to enact a constitutional amendment to Indiana's constitution to ban same sex marriage.  Think Progress reports the chamber's action.  Here are excerpts:

The Indy Chamber, Indianapolis’ business coalition, has come out in opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Indiana. According to John Thompson, chairman of the Chamber’s board, the amendment would deter talent from moving to the state:

THOMPSON: The Indy Chamber is in the business of strengthening our economy and attracting top talent to our region. The proposed marriage amendment does nothing to help show the nation that Indiana is a place that welcomes all, not just some, and we must be mindful of how actions such as this will impact our competitiveness on a national and global level.

In its press release, the Indy Chamber also noted that the amendment would be redundant because Indiana already bans same-sex marriage through state laws:

Indy Chamber leadership recognizes that the amendment would duplicate existing Indiana law, which already defines marriage between one man and one woman. The amendment is a distraction from building momentum in the state legislature to address economic and workforce development challenges in the Indianapolis region and across the state.

Read the full statement of opposition (via Chris Geidner at BuzzFeed).

Indiana’s legislature already voted once to approve the anti-gay amendment back in 2011. A second vote is required during the 2013–2014 legislative session before it can advance to a referendum, and the Republicans decided to delay that consideration until 2014. Gov. Mike Pence (R) also supports the amendment, and was even caught censoring pro-gay comments from his Facebook page back in June.

As seems to be the norm, religious extremism and hatred of others are the main hallmarks of today's Republican Party.