Stand Fast NC! Let Your ‘Bathroom Bill’ Stay

Did you hear?  Last week’s attempt to repeal the North Carolina ‘Bathroom Bill’ crumbled … maintaining that men and women must use bathrooms that match their biological sex.

The North Carolina (NC) General Assembly was called into a special session about 9-months after they passed HB2 on March 23, 2016.  [read more at my postings: April 11, 2016 – “So Much for our 1st Amendment Right of Religious Liberty,” May 2, 2016 -“The Bathroom Battle is Bad Biology,” May 25, 2016 – “Obama’s Transgender Decree”]  It sparked controversy and a national conversation about transgender rights.  Supporters say the law protects women and children from sexual predators in public restrooms, while LGBT activists call it discriminatory.  As a result, major corporations decided to pull up stakes, entertainers cancelled concerts, and the NCAA and ACC moved sporting events away.

The special session was scheduled (last week) after NC Democratic Governor-elect Roy Cooper successfully lobbied the Charlotte City Council to gut a local ordinance that Republicans had blamed for necessitating the statewide law.  Republicans vowed if Charlotte repealed its ordinance, the legislature would consider repealing HB2.

Outgoing NC Republican Governor Pat McCrory called for this special session, but the deal fell apart when Republicans and Democrats could not agree on how to repeal the law.  After a series of failed attempts to come to an agreement, the NC State Senate voted down a motion to repeal the law and the House adjourned without acting.  They are both scheduled to convene this month (January).

NC Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger put a statement on his website blaming Cooper and the Democrats for putting NC’s families at risk.  “Their action proves they only want a repeal in order to force radical social engineering and shared bathrooms across North Carolina, at the expense of our state’s families, our reputation, and our economy,” Berger said.

Stand fast NC!  Don’t give up the ground you’ve already won!  Let your ‘bathroom bill’ stay!

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel