North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory on
Wednesday claimed that the state's business lobby helped craft North
Carolina's controversial anti-LGBT law.
House Bill 2 was approved during a
one-day special session in March. It blocks cities and
municipalities from enacting measures that prohibit discrimination
against the LGBT community. It is also the only state law in the
nation that prohibits transgender people from using the bathroom of
their choice.
The law also includes some
employer-friendly provisions such as banning local minimum wage
increases and stripping workers' right to file discrimination
lawsuits in state courts. Lawmakers later restored the right to sue
in state courts, which are seen as less complex and expensive than
federal courts.
McCrory made the claims during an
interview with a Winston-Salem-based outlet devoted to startup
companies.
“It's only a five-page bill,”
McCrory
explained in calling on critics to read it. “There are four
parts of it, two parts that the Chamber of Commerce helped write, in
North Carolina,” he said.
North Carolina Chamber CEO Lew Ebert
denied the claim in an email to The
News & Observer. “[The Chamber of Commerce] had no
part in suggesting, drafting or reviewing House Bill 2 and anyone who
suggests otherwise is misrepresenting the facts.”
Ebert initially kept silent about the
law's passage. He has denied that his organization sought the
minimum wage freeze.
(Related: Pat
McCrory calls barring transgender bathroom use “common sense” in
new ad.)