Court: NC Domestic Violence Order Rule Harms LGBT People

A North Carolina appeals court says domestic violence protection orders issued by judges must be granted to someone trying to stay apart from a same-sex dating partner, just like in opposite-sex relationships. A divided Court of Appeals on Thursday declared as unconstitutional current law expressly limiting such restraining orders upon dating couples to those of the opposite sex. The ruling stemmed from a Wake County case in 2018 involving two women. A local judge said she couldn't issue a domestic violence protection order, citing the law's language. The ruling could be appealed. North Carolina appears to be the only state with such expressed limits.