Streaming giant Netflix is reportedly
refusing to film a series in North Carolina over a state law that
prohibits municipalities from enacting LGBT protections.
According to Star News Online,
Netflix's upcoming OBX series is set in a fictional Outer
Banks town. It follows four teens after a hurricane cuts all power
and communication to the islands. Netflix has ordered a 10-episode
season of the show, with plans to begin filming in the spring.
Creator Jonas Pate, who lives in
Wilmington, North Carolina, called the series a “coming of age
story.”
“When these lifelines for teens like
phones and Snapchat are gone, it really reorients the generational
divisions,” Pate
said.
Pate said that Netflix objects to
language found in House Bill 142, the 2017 law that repealed House
Bill 2, which blocked cities and municipalities from enacting LGBT
protections and prohibited transgender people from using the bathroom
of their choice in public buildings, including schools. House Bill
142 left bathroom regulation to the state and enacted a moratorium on
LGBT ordinances until December 1, 2020.
Passage of House Bill 2 led to
entertainers refusing to play in North Carolina, the cancellation of
sporting and other events, corporate disinvestment, and cities and
states banning non-essential travel, all of which took a toll on the
state's economy.
Pate said that Netflix could reconsider
filming in Wilmington if state lawmakers ended the prohibition on
local LGBT protections.
“This tiny law is costing this town
70 good, clean, pension-paying jobs and also sending a message to
those people who can bring these jobs and more that North Carolina
still doesn't get it,” Pate said.
Netflix is scouting filming locations
for OBX in Charleston, South Carolina.