This North Carolina politician just claimed HB2 was passed to PROTECT trans people
Republican House member Dan Bishop has taken to television to defend his state’s newly passed law which took away local laws protecting LGBT people.
The state passed HB2, or the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, in a specially called session of the House and Senate, in response to a local LGBT protections law in Charlotte.
The bill voids any existing local laws passed to protect LGBT people, as well as barring local authorities from passing new protections into law.
HB2 was signed by Governor Pat McCrory shortly after it was passed in the House and Senate, which saw Democrats walk out rather than debate the bill.
Bishop appeared on MSNBC speaking to Chuck Todd, who asked him whether the law, which cost the taxpayers $42,000 for a special session to rush the bill through, would remove protections for LGBT people.
Claiming that the law was rushed through because of “thousands and thousands of complaints”, about the issue of trans people using gender-appropriate bathrooms, he said: “What we did was restore common sense, and we did it on a statewide basis.”
When asked again whether the bill will remove protections, Bishop said: “Absolutely not. In fact we worked very hard.
“The reason the bill is such a piece of architecture is that we worked very hard to preserve every piece of protection that North Carolina law or Charlotte law provided before the city council went off the cliff and opened up women’s bathrooms to men.”
Todd says: “There are some gay and lesbian advocates who believe this transgender bathroom issue is being used as a way to roll back protections that were there for gays and lesbians.”
“Those who would dishonestly attack this law, the problem for them is they want to carry the argument that men should go into bathrooms and locker rooms with girls and women. That’s an impossible burden for them to bear so they’re just dishonest about.
“But they can point to no protection that’s been rolled back. The protections in Charlotte’s ordinance – we’ve preserved them. In fact they’re broader than federal law, protections in public accommodations against discrimination. And we’ve expanded those statewide. There is nothing that we’ve cut back, nothing at all.”
He also retweeted a message from fellow homophobe Franklin Graham who said: “Write your newspapers & post on your social media about your support of what @PatMcCroryNC & lawmakers in Raleigh have done–don’t be silent.”
Graham earlier this year appeared to have declared war on gay people – claiming they are “the enemy” and should be thrown out of churches.
Watch the interview below:
h/t Towleroad
