The follies of McCrory's demagoguery on HB2
Published July 23, 2016
by Chris Fitzsimon, NC Policy Watch and NC SPIN panelist, July 22, 2016.
In April NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league would move its 2017 all-star game out of Charlotte if state officials did not make major changes to HB2, the sweeping anti-LGBT legislation passed by the General Assembly in a rushed one-day special session in March and signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory.
The General Assembly adjourned three weeks ago without making major changes to the law and Thursday the NBA announced it was pulling the game, costing the Charlotte area as much as $100 million in lost economic activity.
Gov. McCrory lashed out in anger in a statement reacting to the news, blaming the “sports and entertainment elite,” Attorney General Roy Cooper, and the liberal media for the NBA keeping its word.
He also bashed “left wing special interest groups,” and “selective corporate elite.” McCrory’s campaign even blamed Hillary Clinton since a former advisor for President Bill Clinton now works for the NBA.
It is apparently everybody else’s fault even though McCrory signed the bill and the NBA made plain its intentions three months ago.
McCrory’s statement also talked again about bathroom privacy for children, referring to provisions in HB2 that overturned part of a Charlotte nondiscrimination ordinance that allowed transgender people to use the public facilities that correspond to gender identity.
That’s been the focus of McCrory and other supporters of HB2 since it was passed, claiming it puts women and children at risk of having their privacy invaded in restrooms or even puts them in danger somehow from sexual predators.
Never mind that more than 200 local governments, including 17 of the 20 largest cities in country, have ordinances similar to Charlotte’s in place and have had no problems.
And HB2 goes far beyond bathrooms. It creates a statewide nondiscrimination standard that not only doesn’t guarantee protections for LGBT people, it includes the term “biological sex.”
Federal courts and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have interpreted sex to include sexual orientation and gender identity. McCrory’s law goes out of its way to make sure that LGBT people in North Carolina are not protected from discrimination.
HB2 also prohibits any Charlotte and any other local government from passing their own LGBT nondiscrimination protections.
That’s why the NBA is moving the all-star game out of Charlotte and why 68 corporations including Red Hat, Apple, and Google, recently signed on to a lawsuit challenging the law.
It is not about bathrooms. It’s about LGBT people having the same rights as everybody else, protections from being fired or denied services simply because they are gay or bisexual or transgender.
Gov. McCrory may not want to talk about it, but he signed into law and continues to defend legislation that allows restaurants and hotels and taxis to refuse to serve gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Neither he nor any of the other defenders of HB2 who claim to support equal rights demanded that state lawmakers change the divisive law this session by passing a statewide nondiscrimination standard that includes sexual orientation and gender identity.
That’s because the far-right religious groups behind HB2 don’t believe in equal rights for LGBT people. House Speaker Pro Tem Paul Stam even disputes the existence of sexual orientation, equating it bizarrely to polygamy and adultery.
That’s what the NBA’s decision is really all about, the rejection of the state’s support and codification of discrimination in North Carolina.
McCrory can send out as many mean-spirited Trumpian news releases as he wants, but NBA officials did what they said they would do.
And as damaging as their decision is to the state’s economy and already battered reputation around the world, it was not a surprise.
Neither sadly was McCrory’s disappointing reaction.
HB2 continues to damage North Carolina. And it is his law.
http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2016/07/22/the-follies-of-mccrorys-continuing-demagoguery-on-hb2/
July 24, 2016 at 9:15 pm
Janice Sutton says:
If Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner were to come to my granddaughter's high school to speak, and needed to use the restroom while there, he/she would use the girl's locker room. The girls would be in there dressing and showering, and he/she could join them. That's acceptable to you? He has publically stated that he does no intend to have a sex re-assignment because he wants to continue to have sex with women, yet because he identifies as a female, he can go to any restroom he pleases. I'm sorry he feels discriminated against, but the old saying still holds true..."Your rights end where my nose begins." Sex is determined by XX or XY period.
July 24, 2016 at 9:44 pm
Pat Kelley says:
Let's face it, Chris ... McCrory just doesn't get and apparently never will. I voted for the man but apparently he has "Peter Principaled" out (just like the two governors before him). His stubbornness has rightfully ruined his political career, but since he didn't really burn his bridges with Duke Power at least he'll have a cushy job come January.
July 27, 2016 at 1:43 am
Pat Kelley says:
Janice, the issue is which gender individuals identify with, not their sex at birth. Have you ever heard of an issue where girls have been threatened in a restroom by a trans person? They will generally take care of their business in a locked stall, and that's where your nosey issues should cease.
July 29, 2016 at 12:31 pm
Janice Sutton says:
I imagine, Pat, that I have used a public restroom many times where there was a transgender individual in there using the bathroom, too. They could do that before. The problem comes by making a law giving them a "right" and then extending that to locker rooms and places where there are public showers. Gang showers are not private. If you have male genitals, you should not be in the shower with minor girls. Before the big push for "gender equality" a man showering with minor girls would have been arrested as a sex offender. Now, he can claim to be trans and no one can question him or prevent his presence.
August 1, 2016 at 7:20 am
Pat Kelley says:
I really don't think you need to worry about folks with male genitalia parading around in front of females ... trans people are much more sensitive than that! Just use some common sense instead of being such a hater. These days a person looking like a woman is safer from people who vote like you by using a ladies room than one marked gentlemen. Period.
August 2, 2016 at 12:54 pm
Janice Sutton says:
Pat, you keep bringing the conversation back to the bathroom instead of addressing the locker room showers. The civil rights laws stipulate that one may not question a person about their sexual orientation. If I indicate that I'm trans, you cannot question that. So, if I'm NOT transgender, I can still go into the girls locker room and there is nothing you can do about it. I prefer to err on the side of safety to all the girls rather than placating a small % of people. The DOJ doesn't even allow for having a gender neutral area inside the locker room which would allow privacy for everyone. I am not a hater just because I don't agree with you. We should be able to discuss issues without name calling.
