More athletes condemn North Carolina’s HB2, and urge its repeal
Four athletes have urged their home state of North Carolina to repeal the discriminatory anti-LGBT HB2.
The athletes, from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), wrote a letter to legislators in the state urging them to repeal the law which has drawn much criticism.
HB2 was signed into law by former Governor Pat McCrory
Ezra Baeli-Wang, a fencer, Chris Taylor of Duke football, Gabi McDermott, a state diver and Tanner Owen, a golfer, all signed the letter.
They are all part of the ACC’s student-athlete advisory committee.
The letter noted that the state has already lost dozens of athletic events in the past year, and that the NCAA has warned that it could lose hundreds more.
Legislators in North Carolina last week introduced bills in the House and Senate in the state to repeal the widely condemned HB2 and replace it with LGBT+ protections.
The bills, introduced by Representatives Pricey Harrison, Deb Butler, Kelly Alexander, Susan Fisher and Senators Terry Van Duyn, Mike Woodard, and Jay Chaudhuri, were praised by Equality NC and the Human Rights Campaign.
“My hometown of Greensboro has suffered enormously from economic losses because of HB2, and the potential economic harm from the NCAA pull-out for the next 6 years is even greater.” says Representative Harrison.
“The bill introduced today is a clean repeal of HB2 and provides enhanced statewide non-discrimination protections. This bill reflects North Carolina values, unlike HB2. It is long overdue and we will work our hardest to enact this legislation.”
The bills come after the NCAA said it would pull over a hundred sporting events from the state over a period of six years.
Officials from the NCAA already warned that the state could lose its opportunity to host championship games over HB2, which targets trans people.
Just 12 out of 50 state senators and 40 of 118 current House members, mainly democrats, last month they would support abolishing the law which forces people to use the bathroom of the gender they were assigned at birth.
13 representatives and six senators previously said they firmly want the law to remain.
The results were compiled by the Associated Press and eight newspapers in the state after an effort to repeal the bill fell through in December.
Governor Roy Cooper, who replaced Pat McCrory – the governor that enforced the bill, stood by his statement that there were enough votes to push the repeal.
“If there ever was a need for bipartisanship, it’s now. We came too close in December for Sen. Berger to give up. Too many jobs, too much investment, too much of North Carolina’s reputation are at stake,” Cooper said.
It is believed that the results of the survey still fail to give a clear vision about the likelihood of repealing the law because a number of people declined to participate in the survey.
Some were still undecided about their decision, while others refused to comment to avoid “public squabbling” according to Republican Mike Hager who formerly served as House Majority Leader.
Hager explained that some legislators agree with the “privacy” and “religious” aspects that drive the law, but are worried about the economic impact.
“People have deep-seated feelings about family norms,” Hager said. “You’ve got to have someone brave enough and offer a compromise, because that is what it’s going to take.”
A special session was held in an attempt to repeal the law but failed because it included a moratorium which would have included a six-month-or-longer period during which local ordinances could not be passed around employment practices, public accommodations or bathroom access.
The bill is believed to have lost the state $600 million because of musician boycotts, companies pulling business out of the state, sporting events moving elsewhere, cancelled conventions and the legal costs of creating and defending the anti-LGBT bill.
Governor Cooper failed attempt to repeal the law in another special session, costing a further $42,000.
