Raleigh is buzzing this week about Governor Pat McCrory’s tough words for his fellow Republicans running the General Assembly even though it’s not clear yet what they mean.
During a radio interview with WFAE in Charlotte Monday, McCrory blasted a proposal by Senate leaders to change the way sales tax revenue is allocated, calling it class warfare that would raise taxes on millions of people in North Carolina.
And in statements that have received even more attention, McCrory said that a bill allegedly designed to protect religious freedom by allowing discrimination against gay people “makes no sense.”
He also questioned legislation introduced by Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger that would allow magistrates to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples if they had a “sincerely held religious objection”—an ambiguous phrase left undefined.
McCrory didn’t say what he would do about the sales tax proposal if it passed, but specifically said he would not sign either bill that allows discrimination against people based on sexual orientation.
His remarks prompted not only a series of news stories but attacks from the Tea Party Right and praise from some progressive groups, both of which seem premature.
McCrory did not say he would veto either of the bills that seek to allow discrimination. He promised only not to sign them.
After the General Assembly passed a ridiculous bill last session banning Sharia law in the state, McCrory publicly questioned the need for the legislation but allowed it to become law anyway without his signature.
It’s certainly possible that McCrory could do the same thing with the discrimination bills, oppose them in public remarks but decline to veto either one and allow them to become law too.
That would not only be cowardly, it would embed the right to discriminate even further in North Carolina law. Don’t be misled by claims from supporters of the proposal in North Carolina or a similar law recently passed in Indiana, where Governor Mike Pence insists it would not legalize discrimination in any way, pointing to a federal religious freedom act and laws already on the books in many states.
Pence is wrong, as many legal experts have pointed out. The law in Indiana goes much further than the federal law and most of the laws already on the books in states across the country. So does the proposal in North Carolina.
And neither North Carolina nor Indiana has any legal protections in place. Workers in both states, for example, can be fired simply for being gay.
Both the bills currently in the General Assembly, the misnamed religious freedom act and the proposal to allow magistrates to refuse services to gay couples, are appalling attempts to give legal authority to discriminate and harken back to the Civil Rights era when segregationists fought to retain the right to discriminate against African-Americans in public accommodations.
If the proposals pass the General Assembly, McCrory will have to decide if he wants to stand with the 21stcentury version of the segregationists or stand up for human rights and a more enlightened state.
Simply saying he opposes the bills isn’t enough. He needs to make it clear he will veto both of them and force legislative leaders to try to override him, making them go to extraordinary lengths to allow discrimination against thousands of people in the communities they represent.
It’s time for the governor to do more than just say the right things on the radio. He needs to do the right thing too, and stand in the way of these reactionary and bigoted proposals.
