Corporate activism to force public policy change entered a new phase over the past week with a growing number of companies protesting a North Carolina law that prevents local governments from passing rules that protect lesbian, gay and transgender people (LGBT) from discrimination. Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America is the latest heavyweight to join the campaign, along with 125 other companies including Facebook and Apple. Reaction to the law, along with outcry over similar legislation in states including Georgia and Indiana, shows how the role of corporate leaders in the communities in which their companies are based is being redefined, according to experts at Wharton and elsewhere. The provocation was a civil rights ordinance passed in February by the city of Charlotte that would have prevented businesses from discriminating against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.…