North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory slammed Attorney General Loretta Lynch Wednesday on CNN, calling her comparison of House Bill 2 to Jim Crow laws "an insult."
North Carolina's HB2 which passed in March, not only voids every local antidiscrimination ordinance in the state, but it also prevents transgender people from using public restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity. In addition, it eliminates all ordinances regulating wages.
McCrory told CNN that the Attorney General's speech, which has been hailed as historic by activists, was "political" and he blamed the city of Charlotte, which passed an antidiscrimination ordinance protecting transgender people in February, for causing him to sign HB 2 into law. "We didn't think there was a problem at all until the Democrats brought this up in Charlotte, North Carolina," McCrory told CNN.
When McCrory was asked how the anti-LGBT law would be enforced, he said: "Any way we've been doing it before. Trespassing matters. I don't know how..." Police in several major North Carolina cities have reported that they will not be enforcing the anti-LGBT law.
The Department of Justice announced on Monday that it is suing North Carolina, just hours after Gov. Pat McCrory announced his own federal suit against the Department of Justice for threatening the state's federal funding because HB 2 violates existing civil rights protections against discrimination based on sex in employment and education.
Watch McCrory defend his state's law below.
N.C. Gov. Calls Attorney General's Speech "An Insult"
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