On Dec. 1, one key prong of North Carolina's repeal of HB2 officially elapsed.

State lawmakers' 2017 rewrite of the deeply polarizing "bathroom bill" included a ban on local non-discrimination ordinances for more than three years. That component earned fresh criticism for the original GOP authors of HB2 and the Democrats, including Gov. Roy Cooper, who backed the repeal compromise in House Bill 142.

HB2 was ostensibly written to require that people used public restrooms corresponding to their birth gender, although it also baked in a host of other anti-LGBTQ components. The law spurred a wave of criticism for state lawmakers. And in addition to the hit on NC's image, the bill cost the state an estimated $3.76 billion in economic activity as companies, sports leagues, and entertainers avoided NC following its passage.

Not surprisingly, NC-based LGBTQ equality groups like Equality North Carolina and the Campaign for Southern Equality are now urging local and state lawmakers to pass LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances.

To read more, head to Cardinal and Pine.