During an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” moderator Chuck Todd quizzed North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) on the new sweeping anti-LGBT legislation that he signed into law in late March.
Citing backlash from major corporations, Todd asked McCrory if he regreted signing the rushed legislation.
In response, McCrory blamed the city of Charlotte for “government overreach” with its ordinance providing protections from discrimination for LGBT individuals and allowing transgender people to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.
“How did the state of North Carolina, the state government, not overreach in just the same way?” Todd then asked. The NBC host noted that Charlotte discussed the issue at length, whereas the North Carolina legislature called a special session to rush the legislation through in one day.
“You guys debated for, like, ten seconds. I mean, don’t you regret the time of debate?” Todd asked.
McCrory replied by explaining that he’s met North Carolinians who support the new state law. He then argued that the legislature needed to pass the state law before April 1 in order to prevent the Charlotte ordinance from going into effect.
Later in the interview, Todd asked McCrory how refusing to protect gay and transgender people in state law differs from refusing to protect people from racial discrimination.
McCrory said that he’s unaware of any businesses in the state that discriminate against LGBT individuals.
“What we’ve got to do is deal with this extremely new social norm that has come to our nation at a very quick period of time, and have these discussions about the complexity of equality while also balancing the concept of privacy, including even privacy in the most private of areas of our life, which is a restroom, locker room, or shower facility in our high schools,” the governor added.
He also argued that the Human Rights campaign is “more powerful than the NRA.
“They are putting on a lot of pressure, instead of having good dialogue,” McCrory said.
Watch the full interview via NBC News:
