The North Carolina state legislature on Thursday passed compromise legislation that would largely undo the state’s anti-LGBT law known as HB2, sending the bill to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk.
Republican leaders of the state legislature announced that they had reached a deal with Cooper on Wednesday night. Lawmakers in the state rushed to find a compromise on repealing the law after the NCAA threatened to withhold future championship games from the state if the law stayed in place.
The compromise bill would repeal HB2, which prohibited local governments from passing non-discrimination ordinances to protect LGBT people and barred transgender individuals from using the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.
But the bill bans local non-discrimination ordinances that go beyond federal law, which does not explicitly protect LGBT people, and it leaves the state with authority over multi-occupancy public restrooms.
Progressive groups came out against the compromise bill, arguing that it does not go far enough in repealing HB2.
The state Senate and House passed the compromise legislation with support from both parties, although several Democrats and Republicans opposed the legislation, according to the News and Observer.
