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Please jump the fold for interesting stories on North Carolina politics you might have missed. This week we bring you recent HB-2 News following the massive college sports backlash. We start with the latest good news and then illustrate the pressure leading up to yesterday’s decision to abandon North Carolina’s May 2016 law suit against the federal government.
By TWC News
NORTH CAROLINA - The state withdrew its lawsuit against the federal government over House Bill 2.
The suit was filed in May, and it asked a judge to determine that HB2 is not discriminatory and people should use the bathroom based on their biological sex.
The federal government then filed a counter suit asking a judge to suspend the law until it's determined that HB2 is discriminatory toward the LGBT community, citing titles seven and nine.Experts said these suits could have cost taxpayers millions of dollars. The lawsuit by the federal government against the state is still pending.
By Andrew Carter
Since the North Carolina legislature last March passed House Bill 2, a controversial law restricting transgender bathroom access and limiting the civil rights and bathroom usage of the LGBT community, the state has lost the NBA All-Star Game, Bruce Springsteen and other concerts and conventions and millions of dollars in revenue.
Now North Carolina is losing the NCAA tournament. The NCAA announced on Monday that the seven championships scheduled in the state during this academic year, including NCAA men’s basketball tournament games in Greensboro, would be relocated because of House Bill 2, better known as HB2.
USA TODAY Sports
Until now, the public posture of the Atlantic Coast Conference toward North Carolina’s highly controversial HB2 bill has been to commit to nothing and punt the football as far down the field as possible.
But the ACC’s time to stand on the sidelines has come to an end.
With the NCAA’s decision on Monday to pull events from the state — including the first and second rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament in March — the ACC can no longer wait to make its views clear.
The ACC announced it would move several neutral-site events, including its football title game
The ACC has now joined the NCAA, NBA and other organizations pulling its official league events out of the state of North Carolina due to concerns over the state's House Bill 2, which is considered by many to be anti-LGBT.
For now, the decision only applies to the 2016-17 academic year but does include the relocation of the 2016 ACC Football Championship Game, scheduled to be held in Charlotte at Bank of America Stadium.
From the ACC Council of Presidents: "As members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the ACC Council of Presidents reaffirmed our collective commitment to uphold the values of equality, diversity, inclusion and non-discrimination. Every one of our 15 universities is strongly committed to these values and therefore, we will continue to host ACC Championships at campus sites. We believe North Carolina House Bill 2 is inconsistent with these values, and as a result, we will relocate all neutral site championships for the 2016-17 academic year. All locations will be announced in the future from the conference office."
It was one thing when the NBA pulled the 2017 All-Star game from Charlotte over North Carolina's House Bill 2 — a measure widely criticized as discriminatory toward the LGBT community — but mess with college sports in the Tar Heel State, and HB2 might really be in trouble.
Forward Together, Not One Step Back!