“After a nine hour special session meant to finally repeal the controversial, discriminatory and extremely shitty” bathroom bill”, North Carolina legislators failed in their task to repeal the stupid thing once and for all.
HB2 barred cities and localities from enacting anti-discrimination policies that protect people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and prevented schools from allowing transgender students to use the restroom that correspondents with their gender identity, rather than the gender assigned to them at birth.
The move to repeal comes after the city council in Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city, voted to rescind a city ordinance that was blamed as the catalyst for HB2’s speedy passing on the state level. He and other Democrats said the move was just another way for the Senate Republicans to pass what they wanted to pass.
Major companies lined up against it.
Governor-elect Cooper, who made HB2’s repeal a big part of his campaign, is telling Democrats not to support the new measure. “Yesterday, at the request of the general assembly, the city council removed its invalidated public accommodations ordinance from its city code”. In exchange, lawmakers would undo the LGBT law.
The Charlotte City Council on Monday repealed its ordinance as a prelude to the state repealing HB 2. Pat McCrory over the law known as House Bill 2 during the governor’s race, and the fallout over the law – job losses, canceled concerts and sporting events – contributed to McCrory’s narrow defeat. The council’s action Wednesday morning was created to address their concerns.
McCrory and lawmakers have defended the bathroom provisions as providing privacy and safety by keeping men out of women’s restrooms.
The bathroom measure led to lawsuits against the state, including in May by the Obama administration, which sued the state, saying the law breaks federal anti-discrimination laws. He also hinted at state legislative action. Charlotte officials denied that they were trying to trick Republicans. Among the corporate backlash spurred by the bill, the National Basketball Association moved February’s all-star game from Charlotte to New Orleans.
The law also forbids cities and counties throughout North Carolina from imposing any additional requirements on employers.
McCrory – who conceded to Cooper earlier this month after a contentious election and lengthy recount – signed the law last March. He lost by about 10,000 votes while fellow Republicans U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and GOP nominee Donald Trump, were able to easily win their contests in the state. What would be better, though, is if the law never existed in the first place.
McCrory went on to say, “But it should also be noted that the whole issue of gender identity is a national issue that will be resolved by the courts and the United States Justice Department”. A federal judge agreed December 16 to put the case on hold while the Supreme Court considers a case about transgender bathroom use for a Virginia high school student.