NORTH CAROLINA: Gov. Roy Cooper Signs “Fake” HB2 Repeal Despite Veto Calls From ACLU, LGBT Groups

The Charlotte Observer reports:

The General Assembly on Thursday approved a compromise bill that repeals House Bill 2 but restricts anti-discrimination ordinances in cities and counties. Gov. Roy Cooper signed the measure into law. The Democratic governor negotiated the compromise with the Republican leaders of the legislature, House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger.

“It was a very measured approach,” Moore told reporters. “I think this bill, as written, is also something that is very defensible in court. I think it’s something the public supports. No one is 100 percent happy, but I would say I’m 95 percent happy.”

Opposition and support did not fall along party lines in either the House or the Senate, as advocacy groups on the left and right criticized the measure. Some of the most liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans voted against it. The Senate voted 32-16 in support. In the House, the bill passed 70-48.


Via press release from the Human Rights Campaign:



Today, the North Carolina NAACP, Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Equality North Carolina, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), and the Freedom Center for Social Justice, issued a joint statement following North Carolina’s shameful new legislation that lawmakers and Governor Cooper falsely touted as a “repeal” of their discriminatory HB2 law.

“We call on the NCAA to oppose this shameful HB2.0 bill in North Carolina, and not to reward lawmakers who have passed this so-called ‘deal’ which is an affront to the values we all hold. This bill is anti-worker, anti-access to the courts, and anti-LGBTQ. It violates all basic principles of diversity, inclusion and basic civil rights. Fundamentally, any moratorium on civil rights is not a compromise, it is a contradiction with the principle of equal protection under the law and our moral values.”

This statement was cosigned by Dr. William Barber, North Carolina NAACP President; Chad Griffin, HRC President; Chris Sgro, Equality NC Executive Director; Mara Keisling, NCTE Executive Director; and Bishop Tonyia Rawls, Freedom Center for Social Justice Executive Director.