CHARLOTTE — It remains unclear how the Charlotte City Council's move to enshrine rights of "gender expression" and "gender identity" in its anti-discrimination ordinance might affect the 13 Catholic churches and five Catholic schools located within the city.
Diocesan officials said the ordinance's possible impacts on Charlotte churches and schools are unknown, and for now they are taking a wait-and-see approach.
On Feb. 22, City Council members voted 7-4 to expand the Charlotte's anti-discrimination ordinance to include "marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression" alongside existing protections for race, gender, age and disability beginning April 1.
The decades-old law governs access and services for all public property, nearly all businesses including restaurants and retail stores, taxi services, and city business contracts. It contains no exemption for churches or religious facilities. Violators could be reported to the city council and could face legal action from the city attorney.
The city council's move follows a failed vote last March on the same measure, when opponents successfully rallied against it. The city council's decision came at the end of a contentious council meeting and a rally organized again by hundreds of opponents outside the Government Center in Charlotte.
Religious leaders, business people and many city residents said they were alarmed at the ordinance which now allows, among other things, people to choose a public restroom or locker room corresponding to their sexual orientation, "gender identity" or "gender expression." For example, men who identify as women can use a women's bathroom or public shower.
The city's anti-discrimination ordinance previously exempted public bathrooms, showers "and similar facilities which are in their nature distinctly private."
Many local religious leaders, including Bishop Peter Jugis, called the proposal a threat to public safety and decorum.
"God made men and women biologically different. As a society we must respect that difference, and continue to maintain separate public bathrooms for men and women for the sake of modesty and safety," Bishop Jugis said in a statement Feb. 22.
N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory, a former mayor of Charlotte, also expressed opposition to the ordinance, saying changes to restroom access could "create major public safety issues."
Before the city council vote, McCrory warned in an email to council members that there could be "immediate state legislative intervention" to block the ordinance.
Some conservative state lawmakers led by House Speaker Tim Moore said Feb. 23 that they were "exploring legislative intervention to correct this radical course."
But it is uncertain when and how state legislators could override the city ordinance. The Legislature does not convene until April 25, and the city ordinance takes effect April 1.
Besides intervention by the Legislature, courts might eventually declare the ordinance void on the grounds that it exceeds the authority granted the city in its charter or that it violates the state's building code and law against indecent exposure, said local attorney Robert Potter Jr.
Legislators could also put the issue on the ballot for a referendum, as Houston did last fall when its city council passed a similar ordinance to protect "gender identity." Residents there voted overwhelmingly in November to repeal the measure, 61 percent to 39 percent.
Meanwhile, the city ordinance conceivably could impact public and athletic events held at Catholic schools, public events and meetings held at parish halls, and at the Eucharistic Congress held each September at the city-owned Charlotte Convention Center. But for now, diocesan leaders are waiting and watching how the political battle might unfold.
"Since there are indications that the state legislature may change or eliminate the ordinance, we are waiting to see what happens," said diocesan spokesman David Hains.
Catholic churches and schools located within the city limits are: Our Lady of the Assumption Church and School, St. John Neumann Church, Our Lady of Consolation Church, St. Ann Church and School, St. Gabriel Church and School, St. Patrick Cathedral and School, St. Peter Church, St. Vincent de Paul Church, St. Thomas Aquinas Church, St. Matthew Church and School, St. Joseph Vietnamese Church, St. John Lee Korean Church and Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.
Whether the anti-discrimination ordinance applies to churches and church activities hinges on how the ordinance's use of the term "public accommodation" is interpreted, noted Potter. Federal laws on public accommodations contain a specific exemption for religious institutions, he said, but the Charlotte ordinance does not.
The city code currently defines "public accommodation" as "a business, accommodation, refreshment, entertainment, recreation, or transportation facility of any kind, whether licensed or not, whose goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations are extended, offered, sold or otherwise made available to the public."
The ordinance may more likely apply "the farther you get from actual worship" – to non-church related activities, Potter said.
"Even if the ordinance does not apply to churches themselves," he said, "it may apply to schools and activities like fairs, bingo, athletic events or other activities where the public is invited. If a church rents its activity center to the public, then the ordinance may apply there."
He added, "Certainly, if the diocese rents the Charlotte Convention Center for the Eucharistic Congress, then it should be aware that the city will apply this new policy to all of its own facilities."
Hains said the convention center staff told him they are meeting next week to evaluate the ordinance and as yet do not have any guidance for the diocese or its plans for the Eucharistic Congress this September.
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor
Read the anti-discrimination ordinance