Charlotte City Council member: HRC hypocritical for keeping NC LGBT gala in the state

After nearly a year of supporting boycotts of North Carolina due to House Bill 2, the Washington D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign will keep its state gala in Charlotte.

Republican City Council member Kenny Smith, who opposed the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance that led to HB2, said it’s hypocritical for the HRC to hold a North Carolina state gala in Charlotte. He said the group could have easily held the event in South Carolina, which has no law similar to HB2.

“It’s the height of hypocrisy,” Smith said. “The HRC actively pushed businesses and sports leagues to boycott Charlotte with the intention of creating economic havoc, and yet they aren’t willing to abide those same standards?”

When HB2 was passed by the General Assembly in March, HRC president Chad Griffin said he would put pressure on the Republican leadership in Raleigh by telling conventions, entertainers and other businesses about the negative impacts of the controversial law.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article127769114.html