Yesterday, the North Carolina General Assembly held a special session to address the illegal and radical Charlotte bathroom ordinance.

What did this radical ordinance do?

• As written, the ordinance permitted anyone to use any public bathroom, shower or changing room anywhere – including private businesses.  This gives sexual predators of all types a legal means to gain entry to areas they might not have had before. It did not help Charlotte’s ordinance that the man leading the charge was a registered Sex offender.
• The ordinance, as written, outlawed single-sex facilities like bathrooms and changing rooms.
• It also violated the state Constitution and was beyond the licensing and policing authority for cities in North Carolina.  Read Rep. Bishop’s letter to Mayor Roberts outlining the problems with their ordinance.

The legislature took very swift action. House Bill 2, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, passed through the House mainly on party lines with 10 Democrats voting with the Republicans.

Rep. Grier Martin tried to monkey with portions of the language and insert gender identity back in. His amendment was tabled and then voted down 72-35.

Rep. Tricia Cotham did some ‘look at me, I’m running for congress’ grandstanding insisting that specific language about assisting children to be put into the bill. The bill already had language allowing for such assistance, but Cotham wanted to make a federal case out of it, likely for the media attention.  She got her wish and now kids under 7 are specified in the bill.

She and Rep. Grier tag-teamed lied on Twitter and I called them both out, noting Section D clearly refers to ‘that needing assistance’.

The bill moved on to the Senate, where the Democrats decided they weren’t going to do their jobs nor defend the vast majority of North Carolina families.

Yes, the Democrats walked out on the vote.

The bill then passed through the Senate quite quickly.

The bill was then signed by Governor McCrory last night.

Ordinance defied common sense, allowing men to use women’s bathroom/locker room for instance. That’s why I signed bipartisan bill to stop it

— Pat McCrory (@PatMcCroryNC) March 24, 2016

If you want to read how tolerant the Left and the LGBT community are, read the replies to that tweet from the governor.

The Lt. Governor issued a video statement, that included what the ordinance did, why it was dangerous and why HB2 was needed.

We Will Be Made To Care – Through Appeals

ABC 11 reported the ACLU is looking at legal challenges:

“Instead of solving any real problems, the law would create new ones and could lead to intolerable and unfair conditions for transgender students who are entitled, by federal law, to a safe and equitable education,” said Tara Borello, a senior attorney with Lambda Legal.

Intolerable and unfair conditions? How about the intolerable and unfair condition of forcing any given person to use facilities with the opposite sex?

I look forward to the ACLU explaining how a ridiculously small number of the population supersedes the needs, safety, comfort, and privacy of the vast majority of people.

Remember, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) reported in 2014 that 2.3% of the U.S. population identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Of that 2.3%, only about .7% “self-identified” as transgender. That .7% subset translates to about 51,359 people nationwide or roughly around 1,027 people per state if divided equally (which is unlikely).

North Carolina has a population that is just passing 10 million people.

Why is HB 2 Important?

HB 2, in addressing Charlotte’s egregious overreach, ensures that municipalities and counties can’t pass anti-discrimination rules beyond what is set out by the state.

What’s crucial about this is that it covers public schools and college campuses.
This is essential in stopping the U.S. Department of Education’s abusive use of Title IX lawsuits wherein they have attempted to force schools and districts to allow what is basically an open facilities policy.

Since Attorney General Cooper wouldn’t do his job, the Governor has stepped up in that fight and joined a multi-state Amicus Brief against the US Dept. of Education’s lawsuits.

Chapel Hill Carrboro is already attempting to make stalls ‘gender neutral‘ and Wake County Schools have sent mixed messages on what is being allowed or not allowed there.

HB 2 says schools and school boards must require bathrooms or locker rooms be designated for use only by people based on their biological sex. HB2  does not prohibit schools from creating a unisex facility to accommodate ‘self-identifying’ transgender students.

Frankly, if the Charlotte ordinance had called for the creation of unisex facilities to be present in government/city-held locations, I doubt anyone would have objected.