One very bad issue

Published October 14, 2016

Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, October 13, 2016.

Gov. Pat McCrory boasted he’s providing “leadership like we’ve never seen” during a televised debate with Roy Cooper Tuesday.

Unfortunately, he’s right. He continues to lead the entrenched defenders of House Bill 2 despite the terrible consequences for North Carolina.

The Republican governor could have had a good debate. He’s more polished than Cooper, and his claims to have delivered teacher pay raises, tax cuts, budget surpluses and a low unemployment rate were effective.

He stung his Democratic opponent with a couple of sharp zingers during the debate.

“You’re as straight as another trial lawyer who became a politician in North Carolina, and that’s John Edwards,” McCrory told Cooper.

He reminded viewers that Cooper recently argued that the state put too much money into its “rainy-day fund,” quipping, “We’ve had a lot of rain lately.” This not only raised a question about Cooper’s judgment but drew attention to the governor’s response to Hurricane Matthew flooding. McCrory also was on target in using most of his opening statement to urge residents to get out of the way of a potential dam collapse.

But Cooper gave as good as he got, or better on the subject of HB 2. With the ACC, NCAA and NBA pulling events from the state — the ACC women’s basketball tournament, after 17 consecutive years in Greensboro, will be played in Conway, S.C., next March — and the loss of other business opportunities, Cooper called on McCrory to revoke the law. Instead, McCrory continues to insist it was necessary to protect safety and privacy throughout the state.

It wasn’t. Safety and privacy were protected by state laws before he signed HB 2. The bill added no tougher penalties for sex offenses and included no enforcement provisions.

McCrory persisted in blaming Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, and even Cooper, for passing a city ordinance that would require places of public accommodation to recognize people’s gender identity. He revealed his own confusion when moderator Chuck Todd asked him which facilities transgender celebrity Caitlyn Jenner must use under HB 2. “If she’s going to a shower facility at UNC-Chapel Hill after running around the track, she’s going to use the men’s shower,” McCrory said. She ... men’s shower? The governor denounced efforts to redefine gender, but this isn’t new in North Carolina. More than a decade ago, state law was updated to allow transgender people to change the sex listed on their birth certificate. The governor should update his thinking.

The Charlotte ordinance would not have cost Greensboro the ACC women’s tournament, or NCAA men’s tournament games, or swimming and diving championships, or golf and soccer, or concerts and conventions. Those costly repercussions are the price for a statewide bill that allows discrimination against LGBT people. As long as McCrory defends that position, North Carolina will suffer. In fact, the damage will increase.

McCrory and Cooper differed about voting restrictions, abortion regulations, Medicaid expansion and Obamacare. To their credit, they didn’t interrupt each other or talk past their allotted time. The exchange might have been evenly contested but for one issue where McCrory’s leadership is hurting the state.

http://www.greensboro.com/opinion/n_and_r_editorials/our-opinion-one-very-bad-issue/article_ec1b1d25-2279-5167-9cb6-a400cc7cd751.html