So Govenor Pat McCrory (R. NC) is this week’s biggest asshole because of this:
The N.C. General Assembly on Wednesday approved a bill that invalidates Charlotte’s new legal protections for LGBT individuals, doing far more than striking down a controversial provision that allowed transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify. Gov. Pat McCrory signed it into law hours later.
The vote in the House was 84-25 after three hours of debate, with all Republicans voting for it and 11 Democrats breaking ranks with their party to support the bill.
In the Senate, the vote was 32-0 after the Democrats walked out in protest, saying they had not been allowed to participate in the process.
“We witnessed an affront to democracy,” said Democratic Sen. Dan Blue of Raleigh, the minority leader. “We will not be silent.”
Last year in Indiana, there was a nationwide uproar over a “Religious Freedom” law that critics said would make it easy for businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians. Critics of the North Carolina bill, which passed in a one-day special session, said it was perhaps the most “anti-LGBT legislation” in the nation.
Dana Fenton, the city of Charlotte’s lobbyist, said the bill would invalidate the city’s newly expanded nondiscrimination ordinance, passed in a 7-4 City Council vote in February. He said he believes the state’s largest employers would have lobbied the governor to veto it.
The full bill wasn’t made public until Wednesday morning. Until then, it was unclear whether the legislators would target only the bathroom provision, or whether they would go further and strike down the rest of the ordinance.
House Bill 2, the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, strikes down all existing LGBT nondiscrimination statutes across the state, on top of banning transgender people from using some public restrooms. "That North Carolina is making discrimination part of the law is shameful," North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a video statement Wednesday.
Republican lawmakers introduced the bill in the House during a special session called to deal with a Charlotte anti-discrimination ordinance that was set to go into effect on April 1. The Charlotte ordinance adds sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under the city's existing anti-discrimination law. It includes a provision allowing transgender people to use restrooms at public facilities based on their gender identity and also protects LGBT people from discrimination by businesses and other institutions that serve the general public, like stores or schools.
Nine other localities in the state have ordinances similar to Charlotte's, but if House Bill 2 becomes law, all of them will be invalidated. In their place, the legislation proposes a statewide ordinance that would protect people from discrimination based on "race, religion, color, national origin, or biological sex." The "biological sex" provision would be a new addition, and refers to the sex listed on a person's birth certificate.
And here’s McCrory’s excuse for legalizing discrimination:
Why did Gov. McCrory push for and sign the bill into law?
“The basic expectation of privacy in the most personal of settings, a restroom or locker room, for each gender was violated by government overreach and intrusion by the mayor and city council of Charlotte," McCrory trumpeted in a statement after signing the bill Wednesday night.
Yes, Gov. Pat McCrory signed "the Broadest Anti-LGBT Bill in the Country" to prevent "government overreach."
Ironic, isn't it?
Remember, 17 states and over 200 cities nationwide have laws like the one the Charlotte City Council passed, and it's "never been an issue."
McCrory called Charlotte's nondiscrimination ordinance a "radical breach of trust and security under the false argument of equal access," and claimed that it "not only impacts the citizens of Charlotte but people who come to Charlotte to work, visit or play," ignoring that Charlotte's transgender citizens need protection regardless of who else is in the restroom. McCrory cried the ordinance "defies common sense and basic community norms."
McCrory stated HB2 "does not change existing rights under state or federal law." But it does under several other North Carolina cities, whose LGBT nondiscrimination laws are now null and void.
“It is now time for the city of Charlotte elected officials and state elected officials to get back to working on the issues most important to our citizens,” McCrory concluded.
That's what state elected officials should have been doing all along.
McCrory's opponent, Attorney General Roy Cooper (D. NC), slammed McCrory for pushing this hateful law into effect:
Cooper hadn’t previously taken a position on the Charlotte City Council’s action, which is controversial because it allows transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify. He had said only that the issue was a local matter and that the legislature shouldn’t intervene.
And while Gov. Pat McCrory didn’t issue the call for a special session, Cooper blamed his Republican opponent for the legislature’s action. McCrory said the legislature should revoke the Charlotte ordinance, but he said a special session shouldn’t go beyond the bathroom issue.
“Gov. McCrory started us down this path, promising legislative action for political gain,” Cooper said. “Now the legislature is taking unprecedented actions that will threaten our economy. He lit the match then stood aside as the fire grew out of control.”
It’s time to take back North Carolina from these extremists. Click below to donate and get involved with Cooper and the other down ballot Democrats running for federal and local elections: