McCrory hails privacy act
Published March 26, 2016
by Matt Caulder, NC Capitol Connection, March 24, 2016
Gov. Pat McCrory quickly signed a bill Wednesday evening that prevents cities and counties from passing their own anti-discrimination rules in response to the Charlotte City Council’s actions to allow transgendered people to use gender specific facilities of their chosen gender and not their biological sex.
The state non-discrimination law applies to discrimination based on race, religion, color, national origin or biological sex.
Last month the City Council approved broad changes to its anti-discrimination measure but the General Assembly focused on the removal of language making an exception for keeping bathrooms, showers and changing facilities gender specific.
The effect allowed transgender people to use the restroom aligned with their gender identity.
McCrory, a Republican, criticized the ordinance in February and said he would support legislation to turn it back, a promise that he followed through on Wednesday.
McCrory said, “The basic expectation of privacy in the most personal of settings, a restroom or locker room, for each gender was violated by government overreach and intrusion by the mayor and city council of Charlotte. This radical breach of trust and security under the false argument of equal access not only impacts the citizens of Charlotte but people who come to Charlotte to work, visit or play. [The Charlotte] regulation defies common sense and basic community norms by allowing, for example, a man to use a woman’s bathroom, shower or locker room.
“While local municipalities have important priorities working to oversee police, fire, water and sewer, zoning, roads, and transit, the mayor and city council took action far out of its core responsibilities. As a result, I have signed legislation passed by a bipartisan majority to stop this breach of basic privacy and etiquette, which was to go into effect April 1.
“Although other items included in this bill should have waited until regular session, this bill does not change existing rights under state or federal law. It is now time for the city of Charlotte elected officials and state elected officials to get back to working on the issues most important to our citizens.”
Dems walk out in Senate
The bill passed in an 82-26 vote in the House Wednesday with the support of 12 Democrats, but in the Senate Democrats walked out, refusing to vote, leaving the Republicans to pass the bill unanimously.
Senate Democrats said that they were not involved in the planning process for the legislation. Their votes were not needed to achieve a quorum in the Senate and the bill passed in a 32-0 vote.
Democrats complained about not getting to see the bill before it was filed.
“From the standpoint of having meaningful input, we weren’t going to have it,” Sen. Dan Blue (D-Wake) said.
“Today Senate Democrats followed the lead of (Attorney General) Roy Cooper and refused to make protecting the safety of our children a priority,” Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) said. “We’re not sure if their rhetoric was stronger than their convictions or if they expected to be embarrassed by a majority of Senate Democrats joining Senate Republicans in voting for common sense. But either way, running out and ducking this vote is a serious breach of their duty to their constituents.”
Cooper, a Democrat, is making a bid to unseat McCrory and has been criticized in the past for not defending the state’s policies in a number of areas where he philosophically and politically disagrees with the Republican leadership.
Many in the legislature and the state said the Charlotte ordinance was unconstitutional and that the city government overstepped its powers. Republicans criticized Cooper for not taking the City Council to court over its ordinance.
http://nccapitolconnection.com/2016/03/24/mccrory-hails-privacy-act/
March 27, 2016 at 11:30 am
Norm Kelly says:
Once again, Demoncrat politicians are defaulting to their most base response. Whining. Can dems do anything other than whine? Doesn't seem like it. Even when Billary speaks in her normal voice, it's a whine. Irritating and useless. Like most things socialist.
Instead of taking a stand, Senate libs walked out. Not choosing to vote YES or NO on a bill before them. They didn't give voters a chance to know where they stood on this bill because they simply refused to vote. Like a bunch of little, immature children who whine when they don't get their way. But we expect nothing less from liberal, whiney, baby-ish pols!
Then they add insult to their whining by complaining that they didn't get input on this bill. Really? How often did the socialists prevent input from Republicans when the whiners ruled Raleigh? There were bills that weren't even allowed to come to the floor to allow Republicans to vote on them, let alone have any input. So, more whining from the whine-based lib pols in Raleigh.
No wonder a majority of voters chose to remove the whiners from power!
And what do we get for a response from the liberal N&D in Raleigh? More garbage about why the ordinance should have stood, with very little information about why it was bad, who the groups were that supported this atrocity, and how negatively it would have impacted those of who KNOW what our gender is. Once again, the N&D is spewing garbage about the legislature because, and only because, it is not controlled by their allies. The removal of the N&D allies by voters sure does seem to irritate the heck out of the N&D editorial staff, doesn't it? Perhaps the best evidence that a majority of voters made the proper decision is the amount of irritation and whining coming from the N&D and their allies.
If I self-identify as a black female, when I choose to visit Charlotte, I could visit any public or private business bathroom, shower room, gym that I choose to visit, regardless of the designation on the door. And not a single person around could have prevented me from gawking at the actual females in the restroom, shower room, or unisex-designated gym. The law protected those of us who self-identify, not those of YOU ALL who actually understand what gender you are. Your rights are trumped by my right to decide that God screwed up on me! You are a second class citizen BECAUSE I self-identify as a black female, and the Charlotte ordinance would create a protected group that you couldn't do anything about. Even if that protected group contained registered sex-offenders. And that group DOES contain registered sex offenders. The leader of one of the groups supporting this atrocity is reportedly a registered sex offender. Can anyone prove he is not? Can anyone document for the rest of us what he was convicted of and why we should care about his perversion being foisted upon the rest of us, the thinkers amongst us?
