For Immediate Release
December 22, 2016
Contact: Max Rosenblum: 202-387-2800, news@rac.org
WASHINGTON – Last night, the North Carolina state legislature failed to repeal HB 2 in a special session. HB 2 puts lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender North Carolinians at risk for discrimination in almost all aspects of their lives and prohibits local anti-discrimination laws. In response to the failure to repeal the law, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, released the following statement:
The North Carolina legislature missed an opportunity to right a historic wrong last night. Our Jewish tradition teaches that all human beings are created b’tzelem Elohim, in the Divine image (Genesis 1:27). The Reform Movement is committed to full inclusion and equality for all. Discrimination against any person because of their sexual orientation or gender identity contradicts these values. We urge North Carolina legislators to repeal HB 2 in the next session and bring this pattern of discrimination against LGBTQ people to an end.
Last spring, Rabbi Pesner sent Governor McCrory an open letter urging him to repeal HB 2. That letter can be found here.
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The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is the Washington office of the Union for Reform Judaism, whose nearly 900 congregations across North America encompass 1.5 million Reform Jews, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, whose membership includes more than 2,000 Reform rabbis. Visit www.rac.org for more.
