Deutsche Bank halts North Carolina expansion over anti-LGBTQ law

Deutsche Bank has put plans to expand its presence in North Carolinaand add 250 jobs there on hold after the state recently passed a law that opponents claim is prejudiced against gay and transgenderpeople.

The German financial services conglomerate currently employs about 900 people in the state, and had plans to expand its presence mainly via building up its software application development centre in Cary, N.C.

Job titles would have included ones such astechnology engineers, software developers and analysts.

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But that's on hold now, the bank says, after the state signed House Bill 2,a wide-ranging bill that critics saw discriminates against transgenderpeople and other marginalized groups, into law.

Among other things, the bill limits bathroom usage to people based on the gender they were born with, and excludes sexual orientation and gender identity from the state's anti-discrimination policy. That gives businesses much more leeway to legally not serve some clients.

"We take our commitment to building inclusive work environments seriously," Deutsche Bank's co-CEO John Cryan said. "We're proud of our operations and employees in Cary and regret that as a result of this legislation we are unwilling to include North Carolina in our U.S.expansion plans for now."

Deutsche Bank is not the only company to criticize the law and take their business elsewhere. Payments processing firmPaypal has axed a $3.6 million plan that would have created 400 new jobs in the state. And movie studio Lionsgate halted production on a new TV series in the state and moved those jobs to British Columbia because of the law.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory issued an executive order late Tuesday expanding anti-discrimination rules for state employees and asked lawmakers to eliminate a provision in a law limiting LGBT protections.

But he said he sees no need to repeal the rest of the law, which came about to overturn a Charlotte city ordinance.

McCrory's order did expand the equal employment policy for state employees to include sexual orientation and gender identity and urged lawmakers to restore the right of all workers to sue in state court over employment discrimination.