Major businesses stand against N. Carolina law

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Corporations expressed disappointment Thursday, and the NCAA vowed to monitor what North Carolina does next after the state banned any local government measures protecting people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

American Airlines, which operates its second-largest hub in Charlotte; IBM and Biogen, which have facilities in the state's Research Triangle; and payments processor PayPal, which had announced plans to hire 400 people in Charlotte only last week, were among major employers condemning the new law.

The legislature called a special session Wednesday to void a Charlotte ordinance that would have enabled transgender people to use restrooms aligned with their gender identity legally and would have provided broad protections against discrimination in public accommodations in the state's largest city.

The new law prevents the state's cities and counties from passing their own anti-discrimination rules and instead imposes a statewide standard that leaves out sexual orientation and gender identity.

North Carolina is the first state to require public-school and university students to use only those bathrooms that match their birth certificates, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures.

The state law "is a clear step backwards. Sad day," tweeted Jim Whitehurst, chief executive of Raleigh-based open-source software company Red Hat.

The economic impact will take time to quantify. There were no immediate threats to withdraw business from the state, which has seen booming growth and an influx of "knowledge workers" in Charlotte and Raleigh even as rural towns lag behind economically.

Other businesses have voiced support for the measure Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law late Wednesday, a spokesman for his re-election campaign said.

Spokesman Ricky Diaz did not respond when asked which businesses backed the governor's decision.

About 200 protesters blocked a downtown Raleigh street Thursday evening in front of the state's executive mansion.

McCrory, a former Charlotte mayor, stays in the mansion while in the state capital but was not there at the time of the protest, spokesman Josh Ellis said.

Demonstrators such as Alex Berkman complained lawmakers acted quickly before Charlotte's example could be adopted by other communities.

"The way that these things work is that one place will pass a law, and then another place will pass a law, and then we start to build momentum," said Berkman, 29, of Raleigh.