North Carolina state Sen. Tom Apodaca (R), the state Senate Rules chairman, said on Tuesday that he’s considering placing the bathroom provision in the new anti-LGBT law on the ballot in November.
“If it were up to me, I’d just put it out to a vote of the people. Let them decide what they want to do. And I floated that idea,” he told North Carolina television station WLOS. “Let’s put it on the ballot and get it over with once and for all. If the majority wants this, fine. If they don’t, fine.”
Apodaca said that his staff is looking into a constitutional referendum on the question of whether transgender people should be able to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity. Voters would be able to affirm or nix that portion of the new law in November.
Republican leaders in the North Carolina legislature have said that they are not willing to consider repealing the new law, which also eliminates local ordinances that provide anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people and removes the ability for employees to sue in state court if they believe their firing was discriminatory.
