Appearing Sunday on NBC's Meet the
Press, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican,
defended his signing of a law that targets the LGBT community.
House Bill 2 was a knee jerk reaction
to passage of an LGBT protections bill in Charlotte. Lawmakers
approved and McCrory signed the bill during a one-day special
session. It repealed Charlotte's ordinance and blocked other cities
from enacting similar measures. It also bars students attending
public institutions from using the bathroom that does not conform to
their gender at birth.
The law spurred companies, politicians
and artists to speak out. PayPal
and Deutsche
Bank have halted expansion plans in North Carolina, while several
cities and states have instituted non-essential travel bans to the
state, the
latest being Los Angeles. Cirque
du Soleil on Friday canceled upcoming shows in North Carolina,
adding their voice to a growing list of artists protesting such laws.
(Related: In
Charlotte, Duran Duran criticizes North Carolina anti-gay law.)
When host Chuck Todd asked McCrory
whether the backlash had made him regret signing the law, McCrory
answered that he would always “call out government overreach.”
“It was the Left that brought about
the 'bathroom bill,' not the Right,” McCrory
claimed. “The city of Charlotte passed the bathroom ordinance
mandate on every private sector employer in Charlotte, North
Carolina. … And I think that's government overreach. It's not
government's business to tell the private sector what their bathroom,
locker room or shower practices should be.”
McCrory's comments were widely panned
by members of the Meet the Press roundtable.
“I just think he made a political
mistake here without thinking through the contours of the issue,”
said Perry Bacon, senior political reporter for NBC News.
“This is nanny state at its worse, if
you think about it,” said Chris Matthews.