Businesses, LGBT leaders protest HB2

A Charlotte businessman joined LGBT leaders Sunday to protest House Bill 2.

Noah Barrow, a managing partner of uptown’s Mellow Mushroom on Church Street, said he lost 25 percent of his December business because the Atlantic Coast Conference moved its football championship from Charlotte.

He spoke in front of signs saying All-Star weekend represents a loss of $100 million to the city.

Barrow joined spokesmen for Equality NC and the national Human Rights Campaign in speaking to reporters across from Spectrum Center.

The arena was to have been the site of Sunday’s NBA All-Star game. The league moved the game to New Orleans to protest HB2, which critics consider discriminatory.

This story was originally published February 19, 2017 at 5:16 PM with the headline "Businesses, LGBT leaders protest HB2."