Last month, for example, NBC News reported on a same-sex couple in North Carolina who were told by an employee of a wedding venue in Winston-Salem that the business does “not host same-sex marriage ceremonies.” Rick Su, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, said the couple had little hope of legal recourse. The project also notes that in states without state-level protections, municipalities may provide nondiscrimination protections at a local level. There are currently 21 states, including New York, that explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in state law, with five more that interpret their existing sex discrimination prohibitions in public accommodations to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank. While those who are discriminated against in businesses and other public accommodations have recourse in New York City and New York state, that’s not the case across the country. “In NYC, if you experience discrimination, you have a right to file a complaint with the NYC Commission on Human Rights.”Īyala and Brown said they plan to file such a complaint. “New York state law and New York City law prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in public accommodations such as restaurants,” Richard Saenz, an attorney at the LGBTQ civil rights group Lambda Legal, told NBC News. “They apologized, and they offered us a meal, but this is not something that should just go away,” he said.īecause the incident happened in New York City, the men have legal recourse. The restaurant has since fired the employee, and Boyd Cole, a relative of the owner, said, “In no way do they condone the comments made by their former employee.”Īyala, however, said that he and Brown don’t accept the apology.