Governor cancels city's open-bathrooms ordinance
New North Carolina law sets anti-discrimination standards statewide
Published: 7 hours ago
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory late Wednesday signed into law a plan setting a statewide standard for anti-discrimination ordinances and requirements that was adopted by state lawmakers in a one-day special session called to overturn a Charlotte plan to open public restrooms to those of the opposite sex.
The bill was moved through the state House and Senate, including committees, in a matter of about nine hours on Wednesday in a session called by a two-thirds majority vote of lawmakers themselves.
In a statement released late Wednesday, McCrory said, “The basic expectation of privacy in the most personal of settings, a restroom or locker room, for each gender was violated by government overreach and intrusion by the mayor and city council of Charlotte. This radical breach of trust and security under the false argument of equal access not only impacts the citizens of Charlotte but people who come to Charlotte to work, visit or play. This new government regulation defies common sense and basic community norms by allowing, for example, a man to use a woman’s bathroom, shower or locker room.
“While local municipalities have important priorities working to oversee police, fire, water and sewer, zoning, roads, and transit, the mayor and city council took action far out of its core responsibilities. As a result, I have signed legislation passed by a bipartisan majority to stop this breach of basic privacy and etiquette which was to go into effect April 1. Although other items included in this bill should have waited until regular session, this bill does not change existing rights under state or federal law.”
He continued, “It is now time for the city of Charlotte elected officials and state elected officials to get back to working on the issues most important to our citizens.”
WRAL reported the legislation specifies that the state, not cities, shall set the requirements for nondiscrimination policies by prohibiting cities or towns from adopting regulations that are more strict that the state’s.
The bill was in direct response to the recent adoption by council members in Charlotte of a transgender agenda that would have opened all public restrooms and locker room facilities in the city to those who say they belong to that gender.
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A man who states he is a woman, therefore, would not only have had the opportunity, but the legal right, to enter a restroom for women, no matter who else would be there.
The plan was blasted by leaders no less than Billy Graham Evangelistic Association chief Franklin Graham. That organization has its headquarters in Charlotte.
Democrats in the GOP-controlled state legislature had walked out of the discussion of the issue, before the Senate voted 32-0 to adopt the law. The House earlier voted 84-24 for it.
The Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act defines biological sex as “the physical condition of being male or female, which is stated on a person’s birth certificate,” and requires that bathrooms or changing facilities in schools to be designated for use “by students based on their biological sex.”
For other public agencies, the requirement will be for them to have bathrooms and changing facilities “designated for and only used by persons based on their biological sex.”
Additionally, the law states it shall “supersede and preempt any ordinance, regulation, resolution, or policy adopted or imposed by a unit of local government or other political subdivision of the state that regulates or imposes any requirement upon an employer pertaining to compensation of employees.”
WRAL reported among those testifying in favor was Chloe Jefferson, a junior at Greenville Christian Academy.
She explained she was frightened by the prospect of a boy in the girl’s bathroom or locker room.
“It’s hard enough for young girls to deal with body image without having boys around when they change clothes,” she said.
“I am not the only girl scared,” she added.
The station also reported on Heather Garofalo’s plea for the law.
“Business owners like myself, we would be forced to check our deepest-held beliefs at the door or suffer fines of $500, jail time, lawsuits,” she said. “I am asking for right to provide for my family.”
Transgenders also told the lawmakers they want to be allowed to live as they choose.
“I can’t use the men’s room. I won’t go back to the men’s room. It is unsafe for me there. People like me die there,” said a Raleigh resident who told of being bullied as a boy but who now goes by Madeleine Goss.
WRAL also noted the testimony of Skye Thomson, a 15-year-old transgender from Greenville.
“Imagine yourself in my shoes, being a boy walking into a ladies room. It’s awkward and embarrassing and can actually be dangerous,” Thomson said.
While LGBT activists have had their way in dozens of other cities around the nation, observers viewed the state action as a setback.
Just in advance of the Wednesday work, Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Kellie Fiedorek commended the lawmakers for “listening to the voices of thousands of North Carolinians and taking the common-sense action of ensuring that no women or young girls are forced to undress, shower, or engage in other private activities in the presence of men.”
In a joint statement, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, president of the Senate, and House Speaker Tim Moore had said: “The Senate and House have received the necessary number of signatures from members of the general assembly to call themselves back into session. In accordance with the State Constitution, we will so call for a special session. We aim to repeal this ordinance before it goes into effect to provide for the privacy and protection of the women and children of our state.”
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Tami Fitzgerald, chief of the North Caroline Values Coalition, added, “We commend Lt. Governor Dan Forest, Senate Leader Phil Berger, and Speaker Tim Moore for listening to the voice of their constituents, those who elected them to office, who believe it is common sense – no men should be allowed in women’s bathrooms.”
The fight is over the recent vote by council members in Charlotte which would allow “people to use the bathroom of their choice.”
The issue has played out in a number of other jurisdictions across the U.S., including Houston, where voters rejected a lesbian mayor’s imposition of the same transgender protection plan.
Franklin Graham earlier had written: “I hope they will take swift action to strike down this dangerous ordinance or bring it to a referendum for voters to decide. If this were put to a vote in Charlotte, I’m sure it would be overwhelmingly defeated by Democrats and Republicans alike.”
WND previously reported the vote by the city council was 7-4 for the open restrooms plan.
“Shame on Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts and the city council members,” Graham wrote then.
He said the ordinance “would allow people to use the bathroom of their choice, not based on their biological sex.”
He praised council members Ed Driggs, Claire Fallon, Greg Phipps and Kenny Smith “for having the courage to do the right thing and vote NO.”
Just ahead of the vote, he said, “It’s hard to believe that such a ludicrous law would even be seriously considered – and even harder to believe that at least 8 of 11 council members have said they would vote for it!
“Are people just not thinking clearly? This law would allow pedophiles, perverts and predators into women’s bathrooms. This is wicked and it’s filthy. To think that my granddaughters could go into a restroom and a man be in there exposing himself … what are we setting our children and grandchildren up for? There’s not a public restroom in Charlotte that would be safe!” he said.
The Houston case lasted nearly two years, ending late in 2015 when citizens, who were allowed to vote over the mayor’s objections and only by order of the state Supreme Court, soundly rejected Parker’s agenda, 62 percent to 38 percent.
Read more at
http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/governor-cancels-citys-open-bathrooms-ordinance/#KrJLuLmR4QXzCIyl.99
