Pat McCrory Says Good News Is "HRC Lost the Battle"

Pat McCrory wants to have the last laugh directed at the Human Rights Campaign's efforts to repeal House Bill 2, but what is there to laugh about when it is at the expense of LGBT people?

In a series of radio interviews, McCrory celebrated that there wasn't a full repeal of HB 2. "The good news is this: The HRC lost the battle," McCrory said during an appearance on Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, an organization that the progressive Southern Poverty Law Center labels a hate group. "With their resources and power and money, and their trying to get some other corporations to help support them in the battle ... [The] fact of the matter is, they did not get a full repeal of HB 2."

Gov. Roy Cooper signed a partial repeal of HB 2 last week. He called it a "compromise," but LGBT advocates say it is a "kiss of death." House Bill 142, which was signed into law by Cooper, "forbids government entities from enacting rules on multiple-occupancy bathrooms, showers and changing rooms unless it's 'in accordance with an act of the General Assembly,'" according to CNN. The law also prevents local governments in the state from passing or amending nondiscrimination ordinances relating to employment or public accommodations until December 2020.

In an interview with The Charlotte Observer, McCrory defended his radio statements. "What I'm saying is that I supported the compromise, and the HRC did not," he said. "And I'm not the only one saying it wasn't a full repeal. That's what a compromise is."

HRC president Chad Griffin has been critical of the partial repeal of HB 2. "The rumored HB2 'deal' does nothing more than double-down on discrimination and would ensure North Carolina remains the worst state in the nation for LGBTQ people," he said in a statement last week. "The consequences of this hateful law will only continue without full repeal of HB2. Sellouts cave under pressure. Leaders fight for what's right."

The original law, adopted last year, prevented local governments from enacting or enforcing LGBT-inclusive employment nondiscrimination or public accommodations ordinances (affecting private businesses or contractors) and barred transgender people from using the restrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-segregated facilities that correspond with their gender identity, if these facilities are located in government buildings, including public elementary and secondary schools and state colleges and universities. It also barred localities from setting a minimum wage higher than the state's, and until an earlier change, revoked the right of employees to sue for discrimination in state court.