North Carolina Senate Leader Phil
Berger last week defended a controversial law that targets the LGBT
community.
Berger, a Republican, insisted that
most North Carolinians support “this reasonable, common-sense law.”
House Bill 2 was a knee jerk reaction
to passage of an LGBT protections bill in Charlotte. Lawmakers
approved and Republican Governor Pat McCrory signed the bill during a
one-day special session. It repeals Charlotte's ordinance and blocks
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. McCrory later expanded those
bathroom exclusions to state workers.
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, Pearl
Jam and Boston
are the latest artists to cancel shows in North Carolina to protest
the law.
(Related: In
Charlotte, Duran Duran criticizes North Carolina anti-gay law.)
Speaking to reporters, Berger defended
the law, calling it the “bathroom safety bill.”
“My job is not to give in to the
demands of multimillionaire celebrities pushing a pet social agenda,
liberal newspapers like The New York Times, big corporations
who have every freedom to set whatever policies they wish under this
law,” Berger said. “My job is to listen to the people who
elected us to represent them. And the vast majority of North
Carolinians we've heard from understand and support this reasonable,
common-sense law.”
Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, a
Democrat from Raleigh, told the News
& Observer that he believes Republicans are not taking
the negative response seriously.
“I don't know what it takes to make
people realize that this is a serious issue,” he said. “It plays
out reputationally over the next five to ten years as people decide
whether North Carolina is a desirable place to be.”
(Related: In
London, Obama says anti-gay laws in North Carolina, Mississippi
should be overturned.)