This petition is being lodged in the hope of making the educational profession as well as the larger communty aware of and enlist their aid in addressing an issue that has arisen within the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC).
It is hoped that, as a result of this petition, the NAGC will seriously reconsider the location of its 2017 annual convention, scheduled to take place in Charlotte, North Carolina.
As NAGC members may be aware, that state last week enacted legislation that will in effect severely curtail the civil rights and claims to equal treatment before the law of its every LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) citizen and visitor, invalidating local civil rights legislation such as until it!s passage existed in Charlotte and several other North Carolina communities.
Such a move stands in direct opposition to the aims of the NAGC and similarly motivated organizations, and will almost certainly send its members an unintended message that it either condones or takes a position of uninvolved tolerance toward such regressive legislation which will adversely affect the lives and livelihoods of many of its members and their families.
There are a great number of communities situated across this country that share the Association's progressive goals and that would enthusiastically welcome it's 2017 annual meeting. Any of these would provide a more appropriate venue for this very important event, one at which all of the conferences attendees and participants would feel welcome.
