Jewish grassroots group to call for repeal of House Bill 2

A grassroots group called Carolina Jews for Justice and rabbis will gather in Raleigh Tuesday to call for a repeal of North Carolina’s controversial House Bill 2 and to hold a Passover service at the N.C. Legislature.

The Jewish community has been vocal about its opposition to the law, which sets a statewide definition of protected classes of citizens that doesn’t include sexual orientation and gender identity. More than 40 North Carolina rabbis, including four from Charlotte, have signed onto a letter opposing the new LGBT law.

The group will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. at the General Assembly and then a prayer service immediately thereafter in the building’s chapel.

Speakers at the event include Rep. Grier Martin; Debbie Goldstein, president of Carolina Jews for Justice; Rabbi Fred Guttman of Temple Emanuel in Greensboro and Rabbi Lucy Dinner, Temple Beth Or in Raleigh.

“The malicious and baseless claims made by legislative leaders that transgender rights are a threat to public safety sound to us not like common sense, but like a sense of fear,” Carolina Jews for Justice wrote on its Facebook page soon after the law was passed.

The Jewish group has also called for the NBA to move the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte because of House Bill 2.

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Jewish grassroots group to call for repeal of House Bill 2."