RALEIGH, N.C. – In a press conference Tuesday, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has said his office will not defend HB2, the law adopted last week that strikes down locally enacted protections for LGBT people, saying that the bill is unconstitutional.
The News Observer reported that Cooper called the measure “a national embarrassment” that “will set North Carolina’s economy back if we don’t repeal it.”
Since Gov. McCrory signed the bill into law there has been a wave of opposition from leading corporations, including from Dow, Biogen, PayPal, RedHat, the NCAA, American Airlines, Salesforce, IBM, Apple, the NBA, Google, Microsoft, Marriott, Bayer, and others. Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a ban on all non-essential travel to North Carolina by state officials in protest at the bill.
Four organizations challenging the bill in federal court – The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of North Carolina, Equality NC and Lambda Legal – released a joint statement praising Cooper’s decision: “North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, the state’s top law enforcement official, has concluded House Bill 2 is unconstitutional and harms North Carolinians without justification,” the statement said. “As our lawsuit highlighted yesterday, House Bill 2 singles out the LGBT community for discrimination. That’s not only incompatible with the state’s constitutional and legal obligations but also our shared values as North Carolinians.”
Gov. McCrory’s new law eliminates existing municipal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people and some veterans; prevents such provisions from being passed by cities in the future; and forces transgender students in public schools, as well as adults in state buildings, including public universities, to use restrooms and other facilities inconsistent with their gender identity.
“Attorney General Cooper has made the right call for a very simple reason. He has a responsibility to protect and defend the United States Constitution and this bill, signed into law under the cover of darkness by Gov. McCrory, is blatantly unconstitutional under existing precedent,” said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “Gov. McCrory and the North Carolina General Assembly need to immediately repeal the discriminatory provisions of this bill.”
