Issue Position: Equality

Issue Position

When Susan was a child, schools in Asheville and Buncombe County were segregated, and she and her husband John graduated in the first integrated class to go all the way through grades 9-12 together at Asheville High. First as a School Board member and now as a legislator, Susan has worked to overcome the legacy of segregation in North Carolina.

Susan has co-sponsored legislation to compensate victims of eugenic sterilization (7,600 people were sterilized between 1929 and 1978 by the state's Eugenics Sterilization Program; some of the victims of the program were disabled or mentally disabled, but others were victimized simply because they were poor or black). Susan also actively supported the passage of a new law aimed at eliminating racial profiling in North Carolina, and sponsored and helped pass the Racial Justice Act, allowing people facing the death penalty to present evidence of racial bias in court, and has actively supported other legislation promoting racial justice.

Susan believes that all people deserve equal rights, and has been honored by Equality NC for her work to promote equal civil rights for all people regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. Susan helped pass the School Violence Prevention Act, and made sure that the law includes penalties for harassment based on perceived sexual orientation.

Susan has worked for equal rights for women for her entire political career. She has helped strengthen domestic violence law and protections for victims of sexual assault. In 2009, Susan was awarded the first-ever Lillian's List Courage Award honoring her work in the legislature on behalf of women and children.She also helped pass a law improving the gender equity reporting statute, to ensure that appointments to decision-making regulatory bodies are fair to women, and has consistently worked to ensure that women's voices are heard in policy decisions.

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