As you may have seen in the news today, Republican lawmakers say they’ve reached a compromise with the new Democratic governor to repeal HB2. According to the Associated Press, the bill has just passed the General Assembly and is now on it’s way to the Governor’s desk:
Bill rolling back North Carolina's contentious LGBT law passes General Assembly, heads to governor, who supports it. https://t.co/tG0sGhuYIY
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 30, 2017
A bill rolling back North Carolina’s contentious LGBT “bathroom bill” has passed the General Assembly and is now headed to the governor’s desk.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has said he supports the measure. Republican legislative leaders announced a compromise with the governor late Wednesday night and the measure passed quickly in both the Senate and the House on Thursday.
Not everyone is pleased with the deal. Social conservatives would prefer to have House Bill 2 stay on the books. Gay rights groups believe the replacement bill still allows discrimination.
This is how the AP describes the bill:
The law limits LGBT nondiscrimination protections and requires transgender people to use restrooms in schools and government buildings corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate.
Social conservatives prefer keeping HB2 while gay rights groups say only a complete repeal will do.
A version of the bill released Wednesday night would prevent local governments from passing new nondiscrimination protections for workplaces, hotels and restaurants until December 2020.
So it still forces people to use the bathroom on their birth certificate (which is good) and keeps cities like Charlotte from making it legal for transgenders to use whatever bathroom they want – at least until after 2020, which corresponds to the end of Cooper’s term.
I’m actually surprised Cooper agreed to this compromise.