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LGBT groups lost the battle on transgender

bill repeal, ex-governor said
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Ray Whitehouse/New York Times

Demonstrators marched in 2016 against a state law curbing legal protections for lesbian, gay, and
transgender people, including bathroom rights, in Raleigh, N.C., that was eventually signed into
law by Governor Pat McCrory.

By Mark Berman Washington Post April 01, 2017

Former North Carolina governor Pat McCrory, who signed the states so-called bathroom bill
into law last year, found little common ground with LGBT rights groups during the protracted
fight over the legislation. But both sides now agree about the compromise struck over the law
this week: It was not a full repeal.

Lawmakers in North Carolina on Thursday scrapped the costly and controversial bathroom
measure and replaced it with a law that, among other things, banned local governments from
passing their own measures to protect LGBT people. While Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat,
acknowledged the compromise was not a perfect deal or my preferred solution, he defended it
as a positive step forward and signed it into law despite opposition from LGBT groups.

His Republican predecessor, though, said that the LGBT groups lost the battle and agreed with
them that the measure did not eradicate the law known as House Bill 2, or H.B. 2. While that law
was largely known for its provisions governing which bathrooms transgender people could use, it
also included language reversing local ordinances that expanded protections for LGBT people.

The law prompted economic boycotts and spurred companies such as Deutsche Bank and PayPal
to call off planned expansions into North Carolina, entertainers such as Bruce Springsteen to
reschedule concerts, and sports leagues to relocate games. The potential impact was sizable:
According to an Associated Press analysis released before the new law was signed, H.B. 2 could
have cost North Carolina at least $3.7 billion over a 12-year period.

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Daily updates and analysis on national politics from James Pindell.

After signing the bill, Cooper vowed that sports would return to North Carolina, but it remains
unknown whether the bill he signed will indeed prompt businesses and organizations like the
NCAA, which withdrew some events to protest the law, to return.

The compromise bill was announced just hours before a deadline imposed by the NCAA, which
had already removed some scheduled games from the state and was threatening to withhold
years worth of other events if the law were not changed. The NCAA said in response to the
compromise that it would review the new law and decide next week whether to return events to
North Carolina. The Atlantic Coast Conference, which had moved games from the state, said
Friday it would again consider North Carolina to host future events due to the new law.

Cooper said Thursday that in a perfect world, lawmakers would have fully repealed H.B. 2
and given LGBT residents full protections; he blamed the Republican-dominated legislature for
not allowing such an agreement. In addition to a three-year ban on local nondiscrimination
ordinances, the new law says only state lawmakers and not local school boards or government
agencies can regulate multiple occupancy bathrooms, showers, or changing facilities.

In a statement after the bill passed the legislature, House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican,
praised the agreement and said it strengthens privacy protections statewide by providing a
complete preemption of local governments regulating bathrooms, changing rooms, and showers
so that women and children are protected across the state.
The measure quickly drew intense criticism from the same groups that long sought to repeal H.B.
2. The Human Rights Campaign, in an e-mail after the compromise was passed, said Cooper and
lawmakers chose to sell out the LGBT community.

After more than a year of inaction, Governor Cooper and North Carolina lawmakers doubled-
down on discrimination, Chad Griffin, president of the HRC, said in a statement. This new
law does not repeal H.B. 2. Instead, it institutes a statewide prohibition on equality by banning
nondiscrimination protections across North Carolina and fuels the flames of anti-transgender
hate. Governor Cooper and each and every lawmaker who supported this bill has betrayed the
LGBTQ community.

Griffin signed a statement calling on the NCAA to oppose the new law, which was also assailed
by other groups and prominent voices. Equality NCs executive director said lawmakers
enshrined discrimination into North Carolina law, while the American Civil Liberties Union of
North Carolina said lawmakers should be ashamed of the measure. The Charlotte Observers
editorial board said the new bill does not do one thing to protect the LGBT community and
locks in H.B. 2s most basic and offensive provision.

McCrory had endorsed the compromise bill late Wednesday when the states top Republican
lawmakers and Cooper announced that they had reached a deal. In an interview Thursday after
the bill was passed, McCrory both agreed with and mocked the groups that had assailed him last
year.

The fact of the matter is, they did not get a full repeal of H.B. 2, McCrory said during an
interview Thursday with Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council,
an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as an anti-LGBT hate group.

They do not have the power at the local level to change the definition of gender, which is really
what it comes down to, are we going to change the definition of gender or not? McCrory said.
And that shouldnt be a decision made by a mayor or a governor or the NCAA. Thats not their
right to make that decision. This is going to end up going to the Supreme Court.

They do not have the power at the local level to change the definition of gender, which is really
what it comes down to.

McCrory had forcefully defended the bill after signing it, even as the legislation came to define
North Carolina in the public eye and cost the state jobs and tourism revenue. He also continued
to argue for the law after Cooper ousted him from office last year following a campaign in which
the bathroom bill played a major role, a fact McCrory acknowledged during his interview with
Perkins.

Cooper got elected on this issue, many say, and raised millions of dollars on this issue,
McCrory said. But, noting that the groups opposing H.B. 2 were also opposing the new law
signed by Cooper, he added: The same protesters that protested me are now protesting the
current governor.

In response, a spokeswoman for Cooper rejected McCrorys commentary on the issue and argued
that the governor would continue to work toward strengthening protections for North Carolinas
LGBT communities.

Pat McCrory doesnt have any credibility on the issue as the person who signed the law that got
North Carolina into this mess, Sadie Weiner, a spokeswoman for Cooper, said in a statement.
Governor Cooper signed the new law that repealed H.B. 2 saying it is a step forward but not the
only step. He supports statewide protections for LGBT North Carolinians and will keep working
for them.

Coopers office also provided a fact sheet noting that in addition to revoking the bathroom
provisions, the new law allows local governments to set wages and nondiscrimination policies
for employees as well as city contractors. The fact sheet also noted that the prohibition on local
nondiscrimination ordinances is temporary and is set to expire in December 2020, a month after
North Carolinas next gubernatorial election.

Since leaving office, McCrory had said that he was unable to find work due to H.B. 2, saying in a
podcast interview, People are reluctant to hire me, because, Oh my God, hes a bigot - which
is the last thing I am. He told the Raleigh News & Observer earlier this month that he had been
working as a consultant and taken advisory board positions.

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