Attorney General Roy Cooper is facing off against Gov. Pat McCrory in November’s gubernatorial race and House Bill 2, more commonly known as HB2, has become a main focal point of the campaign.
Cooper has already said that he will not defend the bill, which prevents cities and counties from expanding their non-discrimination ordinances to include sexual orientation and gender identity and requires trans people to use the bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with the gender on their birth certificate.
McCrory signed the bill into law and has defended it, focusing on the transgender bathroom provision and saying it was necessary to maintain privacy, routinely claiming that it would have allowed men into women’s bathrooms.
McCrory issued an executive order on Tuesday, April 12, expanding the non-discrimination ordinance for state employees to include sexual orientation and gender identity and asking the General Assembly to once again permit discrimination cases to go through the state courts. HB2 requires individuals to instead go through the more costly and time consuming affair of taking their case through the federal court system.
Cooper responded, calling it “a day late and a veto short.”
Cooper released a video via his YouTube account on Monday, April 11, titled “I Want My State Back” where he calls for the repeal of HB2.
From the video:
I know this, I used to hear, “Oh, you’re from North Carolina, you guys are doing some good things down there. Now I hear, “What’s wrong with North Carolina? What’s going on down there?” And I hear from people in our state who say, “I’m tired of being on the late night comedy shows.”
I want our state to head in the right direction. I want our state back…
I want leaders who will be inclusive, who will tell everyone that North Carolina is open for business. No matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, we want you to come here. We don’t discriminate here.
And one thing we know we’ve got to do is work together and repeal this House Bill 2.