NOW: Activists Rallying at North Carolina Governor’s Mansion and State House to Oppose Partial HB2 Repeal

State Has Until Noon or It Will Lose NCAA Games for Five Years

Activists are gathering for a rally set to start at 8 AM EDT to oppose North Carolina Republican leadership’s 11th hour compromise bill that would only partially repeal that sweeping and unconstitutional anti-LGBT bill known as HB2. Lawmakers struck a deal late Wednesday night and have scheduled a vote for 9:15 AM on the legislation Governor Roy Cooper has indicated he will sign. NCRM was one of the first to report on the HB2 “repeal” bill Wednesday night.

“We Don’t Deal On Discrimination” is the name of the event, hosted by Equality North Carolina and being promoted by the NC ACLU. 

Another rally is set for 9 AM at the North Carolina State Legislative Building.

North Carolina has until noon to repeal HB2 or lose NCAA games for the next five years.

But even under that threat, and even after a report this week found that HB2 will cost North Carolina more than $3.76 billion over the next 12 years – not counting the loss of revenue from the NCAA games, Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore let patriarchy and bigotry control their decision-making, refusing to put forth a clean repeal bill. 

And yet again, just as they did when passing HB2 into law, there’s little if any time for public comment and zero time for public notice. 

One of the worst aspects of the legislation is that it puts in place a nearly 4-year ban on cities and towns implementing or enacting nondiscrimination ordinances. It also keeps in place state “control” of public facilities, meaning the ban on transgender people using restrooms that correspond with their gender identity stays in place.

ACLU attorney Chase Strangio posted this minutes ago:

You know it’s a bad deal when former Governor Pat McCrory supports it:

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