McCrory: ‘Irresponsible’ and ‘An Insult’ to Correlate Transgender Rights With Civil Rights Movement

GOP Governor Scolds US Attorney General – a Black, Native North Carolinian – for Making Comparison

Governor Pat McCrory Wednesday again made the rounds on the news networks, which, like CNN (video above), allowed him to repeat his now-polished talking points with almost zero push back. The North Carolina Republican continues to defend HB2, his illegal and unconstitutional anti-LGBT law, and on CNN took an extra step: scolding the U.S. Attorney General.

After watching (and making faces to) a clip of Loretta Lynch – a highly accomplished African American who is also a native North Carolinian – compare his HB2 to Jim Crow laws, Gov. McCrory called her comments “an insult,” and “a political statement instead of a legal statement.” 

In the clip, Lynch says, “It was not so very long ago that states, including North Carolina, had signs above restrooms, water fountains and on public accommodations keeping people out based upon a distinction without a difference.”

But McCrory, ignoring the facts before him, announced, “Whether a boy can go into girls restroom — to correlate that to the civil rights movement — is totally irresponsible for the chief legal officer of the United States of America.”

He continued, “To have the Justice Department come out with a massive interpretation of the Civil Rights Act for every employer is something that I think needs clarification from the federal courts.”

Buzzfeed’s Dominic Holden notes that “the Justice Department’s argument is not new to North Carolina. In December 2014, Attorney General Eric Holder announced this was the government’s position going forward in employment litigation.”

“I have determined that the best reading of Title VII’s prohibition of sex discrimination is that it encompasses discrimination based on gender identity, including transgender status,” Attorney General Eric Holder wrote.

 

Image: Screenshot via CNN
Hat tip: Buzzfeed