North Carolina Governor Signs Bill Repealing, Replacing Bathroom Law Amid Criticism

MORE: Who’s against North Carolina’s HB2 compromise billThe vote came down to the wire before the state could have potentially lost the ability to host NCAA athletic championships for several years.

The ACC Council of Presidents voted Friday that North Carolina may again host conference championships. Also boycotting: the ACC, NBA, major entertainers and companies – criticizing HB2 for discriminating against transgender individuals. Nobody made the decision to leave North Carolina casually. But he sees the compromise as a first step toward healing the state and bringing back the economic revival he promised. Before the repeal is official, it has to pass through the House and and be signed by Cooper.

“If we could have props in here, I’d take a basketball covered in money and roll it down the middle aisle there.” said Republican Rep. Carl Ford.

It looks like the controversial North Carolina “bathroom law” may be going down the toilet.

During comments made at the NCAA’s Final Four on Thursday, NCAA President Mark Emmert was non-committal about the NCAA and whether he felt the repeal went far enough in its eyes. They believe they had the leaders’ implicit support in taking the compromise to a vote.

Before Thursday’s deal passed, Greensboro businessman and UNC fan John Cohen complained that “the people in Raleigh are playing politics with a reputation that North Carolina worked decades to earn”. “In all meaningful ways, this has not changed anything”.

The legislature approved the bill Thursday and Gov. Roy Cooper (D) signed it, reversing a law that required transgender people to use public bathrooms matching the gender on their birth certificates.

SB 6, which would ban transgender-friendly bathroom policies in public schools, universities and government buildings, passed the Senate and is awaiting action in the House, which is led by Speaker Joe Straus, who opposes the measure. It allows for local governments to extend certain protections to the LGBT community. Only a complete repeal, with nothing else, will do, they say. However, LBGT rights groups and critics are calling today’s bill a “repeal” in name only. A New York Times editorial called it “bait-and-switch”.

James Esseks, director of the ACLU LGBT Project, said lawmakers “should be ashamed of this backroom deal”.

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski have spoken out against the Bill.

“Technically, obviously it is (a repeal)”, Emmert told reporters.

State Republican lawmakers in Norht Carolina late on Wednesday said they had reached a deal to repeal the state’s law prohibiting transgender people from using restrooms in accordance with their gender identity. They’ve changed the law.