NC Lawmakers Working On Changes To Anti-LGBT Law Amid NBA Pressure

With heightened pressure from the National Basketball Association to change North Carolina’s anti-LGBT law, state lawmakers are working on potential tweaks to HB2 before they wrap up the legislative session.

Gov. Pat McCrory (R) met with Republican lawmakers on Wednesday to discuss changes, but legislators have not revealed much about what changes they might propose, according to the News and Observer.

Lawmakers stepped up efforts to edit the law while meeting with representatives of sports teams in the state. Legislators have met with the presidents of the Charlotte Hornets and Panthers, as well as Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford, according to the Charlotte Observer. And CNN reported on Wednesday that lawmakers have also met with Michael Jordan, the owner of the Hornets.

The NBA has hinted that it could move the 2017 All Star game from Charlotte if lawmakers do not change or repeal the controversial anti-LGBT law.

Despite recent discussions and pressure from sports interests, Republican lawmakers don’t appear willing to make major changes to the legislation.

“We’re having discussions with a number of folks, but so far there’s nothing that’s been determined,” North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore (R) told the Associated Press. “I think that we may look at some tweaks to the law, it’s certainly nothing that would make the Obama administration probably happy.”

It does not appear that lawmakers are looking to change or repeal the portion of the law that keeps transgender people from using the public restroom that corresponds to their gender identity, according to reporting by the AP and the News and Observer.

Draft legislation leaked to Charlotte television station WBTV would change HB2’s provision that removed the ability for people to sue their employers under state law if they feel they were fired discriminatorily on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex or handicap. McCrory asked lawmakers to repeal that portion of the law shortly after it was signed.

The draft also includes a few additional changes. It would use federal discrimination standards, rather than the standards laid out in HB2. And it would create a “certificate of sex reassignment” that transgender people could use to show that they have changed their gender. The draft also adds penalties for people who commit certain offenses in public restrooms.

It’s not clear whether lawmakers will consider the draft leaked to WBTV or whether there are additional proposed drafts to alter HB2.

LGBT advocates have indicated that small tweaks to the law would not be acceptable.

“This despicable bill would continue insidious policies targeting LGBTQ people for discrimination and do nothing to fix the mess HB2 created. It’s past time for North Carolina lawmakers to listen to the overwhelming chorus of voices from across North Carolina and around the country calling for full repeal of this hateful law,” Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement about the proposed changes reported by WBTV.