The Charlotte, North Carolina, city council is set take up a pro-LGBT nondiscrimination measure during Monday night’s meeting, and eight of the 11 council members have reportedly voiced their support for it. That has GOP Gov. Pat McCrory in a tizzy... and ready to take punitive damage. In other words, if Charlotte passes a measure that will help ensure LGBT citizens are treated with dignity and respect, McCrory is going to target the most vulnerable subset of that community with derision and discrimination. Zack Ford has the latest:
Last year, Charlotte’s City Council defeated an LGBT nondiscrimination law by a tight 6-5 vote, and this year, council members are once again considering a similar provision. This weekend, McCrory told two of the council members that if they approve the protections, the legislature will intervene and he will eagerly sign a bill banning bathroom access for transgender people.
Repeating the popular conservative myth that helped defeat Houston’s LGBT protections last fall, McCrory warned in an email that “changing basic restroom and locker room norms” will somehow put women and children at risk. “This shift in policy could also create major public safety issues by putting citizens in possible danger from deviant actions by individuals taking improper advantage of a bad policy. Also, this action of allowing a person with male anatomy, for example, to use a female restroom or locker room will most likely cause immediate State legislative intervention which I would support as governor.”
McCrory obviously wants to score some cheap political points by following South Dakota’s lead. It’s craven politics. But one still has to wonder where the response is from LGBT advocates who seem content to battle these pernicious bills one at a time, rather than articulating a broad national equality strategy.