North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper on Wednesday proposed a legal
settlement granting special bathroom access privileges to
gender-confused persons, and signed an executive order handing down new
transgender mandates on Wednesday, breaking from his earlier expressed
intentions to leave social issues alone.
The first-term Democratic governor proposed a legal settlement with the ACLU to protect the right of transgender individuals to use any public restroom (such as a restaurant, retail store, movie theater, or any other public restroom) corresponding to their gender identity. Cooper also issued an executive order which awards new special rights to transgenders, including barring any state entity or business contracting with the state from maintaining and enforcing sex-specific restrooms.
“Nothing can make up for the cruel and senseless attacks transgender people have faced in North Carolina, but I am hopeful that the court will agree to clarify the law so that we can live our lives in less fear,” said Joaquín Carcaño, the transgender lead plaintiff in the case against North Carolina over HB 2 and HB 142.
Conservative leaders say Cooper’s agreement with the ACLU goes back on a previous compromise, and contradicts his promises to not play politics with social issues.
PREVIOUSLY: NC Sued Again Over Transgender Bathroom Law That Was Allegedly ‘Repealed’
“Roy Cooper made a deal with the business community and the
legislature to repeal HB2 and put divisive social issues that North
Carolinians are sick of hearing about behind us, and his attempt to
resurrect these issues shows he acted in bad faith and lied about
wanting to end the focus on HB2,” said North Carolina State Senate
Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Speaker Tim Moore
(R-Cleveland) in a joint statement.
“During his campaign for governor, Cooper was touted as the man to return North Carolina to its Southern-styled moderation,” said Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of Christian Action League of North Carolina, in a statement on Facebook. “He admonished that diverse social issues should be put away. But this action clearly marks him as a genuine hell-bent leftist ideologue determined to bring every part of the state into conformity with a radical progressive worldview.”
Cooper repeatedly said in his campaign and at the start of his administration that he would shift focus away from issues such as transgenders’ access to public and business restrooms. Cooper proclaimed in a campaign ad that “Instead of social issues, I’ll focus on our schools,” and suggested that lawmakers “listen to North Carolinians urging us to set aside divisive social issues and political power struggles,” in his 2017 State of the State address in March.
Earlier this year, Cooper and the state legislature came to a compromise on North Carolina’s divisive HB2 “bathroom bill.” HB 2 proclaimed that transgender people have no legal right to use a restroom which doesn’t correspond to the sex on their birth certificate.
After HB 2 led to nationwide outrage and attention, including boycotts of the state from the ACC and NCAA, first-term Democratic governor Roy Cooper and Republican leaders reached a compromise.
PREVIOUSLY: NC Lawmaker Admits HB2 Repeal was Driven By Image, Fear of Leftist Media
The compromise bill, House Bill 142, rolled back HB2, restoring the status quo without giving specific language on bathroom usage. It also prevented local entities from enacting any non-discrimination legislation until December 2020, to allow the transgender issue to play out in the courts.
Progressive transgender advocates, however, were not satisfied with the return of the status quo and want a legal agreement to affirm the right of transgender people to use bathroom facilities which match the gender with which they “identify.” Cooper’s executive order affirms special privileges for gender-confused people to use any bathroom in state facilities and facilities of private businesses which do business with the state. If approved in the courts, the ACLU’s proposed consent decree would protect LGBT use of any restroom in restaurants, retail stores, movie theaters, and any business considered a “public accommodation.”
State Sen. Dan Bishop, who co-authored the original HB2 when he was a member of the NC House of Representatives, noted the joint effort between Cooper, Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein, and the ACLU, calling the consent decree “the epitome of a collusive settlement.”
“So much for the truce,” he wrote in a Facebook comment. “I warned it would be fleeting.”
The first-term Democratic governor proposed a legal settlement with the ACLU to protect the right of transgender individuals to use any public restroom (such as a restaurant, retail store, movie theater, or any other public restroom) corresponding to their gender identity. Cooper also issued an executive order which awards new special rights to transgenders, including barring any state entity or business contracting with the state from maintaining and enforcing sex-specific restrooms.
“Nothing can make up for the cruel and senseless attacks transgender people have faced in North Carolina, but I am hopeful that the court will agree to clarify the law so that we can live our lives in less fear,” said Joaquín Carcaño, the transgender lead plaintiff in the case against North Carolina over HB 2 and HB 142.
Conservative leaders say Cooper’s agreement with the ACLU goes back on a previous compromise, and contradicts his promises to not play politics with social issues.
PREVIOUSLY: NC Sued Again Over Transgender Bathroom Law That Was Allegedly ‘Repealed’
“During his campaign for governor, Cooper was touted as the man to return North Carolina to its Southern-styled moderation,” said Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of Christian Action League of North Carolina, in a statement on Facebook. “He admonished that diverse social issues should be put away. But this action clearly marks him as a genuine hell-bent leftist ideologue determined to bring every part of the state into conformity with a radical progressive worldview.”
Cooper repeatedly said in his campaign and at the start of his administration that he would shift focus away from issues such as transgenders’ access to public and business restrooms. Cooper proclaimed in a campaign ad that “Instead of social issues, I’ll focus on our schools,” and suggested that lawmakers “listen to North Carolinians urging us to set aside divisive social issues and political power struggles,” in his 2017 State of the State address in March.
Earlier this year, Cooper and the state legislature came to a compromise on North Carolina’s divisive HB2 “bathroom bill.” HB 2 proclaimed that transgender people have no legal right to use a restroom which doesn’t correspond to the sex on their birth certificate.
After HB 2 led to nationwide outrage and attention, including boycotts of the state from the ACC and NCAA, first-term Democratic governor Roy Cooper and Republican leaders reached a compromise.
PREVIOUSLY: NC Lawmaker Admits HB2 Repeal was Driven By Image, Fear of Leftist Media
The compromise bill, House Bill 142, rolled back HB2, restoring the status quo without giving specific language on bathroom usage. It also prevented local entities from enacting any non-discrimination legislation until December 2020, to allow the transgender issue to play out in the courts.
Progressive transgender advocates, however, were not satisfied with the return of the status quo and want a legal agreement to affirm the right of transgender people to use bathroom facilities which match the gender with which they “identify.” Cooper’s executive order affirms special privileges for gender-confused people to use any bathroom in state facilities and facilities of private businesses which do business with the state. If approved in the courts, the ACLU’s proposed consent decree would protect LGBT use of any restroom in restaurants, retail stores, movie theaters, and any business considered a “public accommodation.”
State Sen. Dan Bishop, who co-authored the original HB2 when he was a member of the NC House of Representatives, noted the joint effort between Cooper, Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein, and the ACLU, calling the consent decree “the epitome of a collusive settlement.”
“So much for the truce,” he wrote in a Facebook comment. “I warned it would be fleeting.”
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