McCrory Issues Executive Order Regarding House Bill 2

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory has issued an Executive Order regarding the recently-passed House Bill 2.

McCrory says that the order is a result of “listening to people’s feedback for the past several weeks” regarding the legislation that advocates have called the worst anti-LGBT legislation in the nation.

McCrory lists five things that he says the order does:

Maintains common sense gender-specific restroom and locker room facilities in government buildings and schools
Affirms the private sector’s right to establish its own restroom and locker room policies
Affirms the private sector and local governments’ right to establish non-discrimination employment policies for its own employees
Expands the state’s employment policy for state employees to cover sexual orientation and gender identity
Seeks legislation to reinstate the right to sue in state court for discrimination

The first three notes reiterate what was put in place by House Bill 2. The legislation does still limit local governments’ abilities to extend local nondiscrimination policies beyond the statewide policy, which does not include sexual orientation, gender identity or veteran status, among other things.

Critics had also voiced opposition to the portion of House Bill 2 which took away an employee’s right to sue in state court for discrimination, instead forcing them to federal court. McCrory says he will work with the legislature in the short session to restore that right.

The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement saying the order “maintains House Bill 2’s provisions that force transgender people to use the wrong restroom while prohibiting workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity for state employees.”

ACLU of North Carolina executive director Sarah Preston is quoted in the release saying, “Gov. McCrory’s actions today are a poor effort to save face after his sweeping attacks on the LGBT community, and they fall far short of correcting the damage done when he signed the harmful measure into law that stigmatizes and mandates discrimination against gay and transgender people. With the executive order, LGBT individuals still lack legal protections from discrimination, and transgender people are still explicitly targeted by being forced to use the wrong restroom.”

The ACLU, ACLU of North Carolina, Lambda Legal and Equality NC have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of House Bill 2.

Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper has previously said he would not defend the state in that lawsuit.

Cooper is also the Democratic nominee for Governor and is challenging McCrory in this November’s election. Cooper issued the following statement Tuesday afternoon:

“Governor McCrory’s executive order is a day late and a veto short. The sweeping discrimination law he signed has already cost North Carolina hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue.I’m glad Governor McCrory has finally acknowledged the great damage his legislation has done, but he needs to do much more.

The truth is, this executive order doesn’t change the fact that HB 2 has written discrimination into the law.

Governor, work to repeal HB 2.”

You can read the full Executive Order here.

Below is the video released by the governor’s office announcing the order.