Late Wednesday night, North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger announced that they and Gov. Roy Cooper had come to an agreement on a bill to repeal HB 2, the state's contentious anti-transgender law. This is the second such announcement, coming after a failed attempt to repeal the law in December. The bill's text reveals that while it repeals HB 2 in name, it retains some parts of the law, including preventing cities from passing ordinances related to regulating employment practices or public accommodations.
Mara Keisling, Executive Director of NCTE, said the following in response:
Let me be clear: this is not a repeal. It’s a cynical ploy that will continue to hurt North Carolina and transgender people. Passing this bill would mean that North Carolina continues to be one of the very few states where it's illegal for cities to protect the rights of their residents. It pushes aside real North Carolinians in favor of political expediency.
This backroom deal resembles how North Carolina’s political leaders originally passed HB 2, which former Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law late at night just over a year ago. Just like last March, and just like December's repeal attempt, the people of North Carolina have once again had no opportunity to give input on legislation that will affect all of them.
Transgender North Carolinians are being squarely targeted by HB 2 and would continue to be targeted by the provisions of this new law. Even before HB 2 was passed, almost half of transgender North Carolinians reported experiencing serious psychological distress in the month before they took the U.S. Transgender Survey. Things have only gotten worse in the past year.
It's time for North Carolina's political leaders to get their act together and remember who they're working for - the North Carolinian public. After all, Gov. Cooper ran his campaign on fully repealing HB 2 and protecting transgender North Carolinians. It is an outrageous betrayal that he supports this fake repeal.
