The newly passed law that gives some court officials the right to opt-out of marriages due to religious beliefs was passed despite Governor McCrory's veto, and a warning that the legislation would hurt economic development in North Carolina. For this edition of the Business Report, Mark Sutter, editor of the Triad Business Journal discussed the implications from that law and other social issues in the spotlight this week.
Sutter says when laws are passed that are not seen as inclusive to the entire population, it hinders recruitment efforts for out-of-state companies.
"The same way that we want to make sure that [North Carolina] is inviting in terms of taxes and the tax climate, the same thing goes for the work force," says Sutter. "Is this an area where anybody might feel comfortable moving their family to be workers here?"
Another news item that highlighted the tension between gay rights and religious freedom was the story surrounding Franklin Graham, the President and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelic Association. He shifted his accounts from Wells Fargo after a commercial aired that highlighted a same-sex couple in the process of adoption.
When Graham moved his business to Winston-Salem based BB&T, which has been supportive of the LGBT community, he said the reason was that Wells Fargo's national advertisement amounted to advocacy.
Sutter says this kind of attention can put businesses in a tight spot.
"I think what you're seeing in the case of Wells Fargo and BB&T, no matter what their political views are, business is business and you want your business to be as broad and as inclusive as possible, " says Sutter. "So, there's every incentive not to discriminate or give the appearance of discriminating against any market because it cuts away at the potential market that's out there."
The Business Report on 88.5 WFDD is a partnership with the Triad Business Journal.
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