No one should be discriminated against because of who they are or who they love. Since our founding, the ACLU of North Carolina has a long and proud history of fighting for equal rights for LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual) and gender-nonconforming North Carolinians and their families.
Through litigation, lobbying, public education, and organizing, we work to build a North Carolina where LGBTQIA+ and gender-nonconforming people can live openly without discrimination and enjoy equal rights, personal autonomy, and freedom of expression and association.
During the 1970s, the ACLU-NC worked to dismantle North Carolina's sodomy laws, which allowed police to arrest LGBTQIA+ adults for engaging in private, consensual sexual behavior. In 2013 and 2014, the ACLU-NC represented nine families in the first two legal challenges to North Carolina's ban on marriage for same-sex couples, ultimately helping to win marriage equality in North Carolina. In 2016, the ACLU-NC filed a federal court challenge to House Bill 2, North Carolina's notorious transgender discrimination law, just days after it was passed.
The ACLU-NC also works to protect LGBTQIA+ people from discrimination in employment, education, housing, public accommodations, government services, and other areas of life.
