North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory on
Tuesday claimed that the head of the nation's largest LGBT rights
group threatened him over passage of the state's anti-gay law.
McCrory told a Charlotte Rotary Club
audience that HRC President Chad Griffin had promised during a
meeting earlier this year to make the state an example over passage
of House Bill 2, which limits LGBT rights in the state and prohibits
transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice in
government buildings and schools.
“He said, governor, I'm going to make
North Carolina the epicenter of the transgender bathroom movement in
the United States of America,” McCrory
said. “And once I finish with North Carolina, I'm going to all
the states of the United States.”
“We're going after you,” McCrory
claimed Griffin told him.
In a statement, Griffin said that
McCrory's recollection was a lie.
“Word for word, Governor McCrory lied
to North Carolinians today,” Griffin said. “In the wake of HB2's
passage six months ago, we hand-delivered a letter from more than 100
CEOs and business leaders urging Governor McCrory to repeal the bill,
and we warned Governor McCrory about the damage he had set in motion.
During the meeting, we asked him to fix the problem he created and to
work with us on a constructive path forward to repealing HB2. We also
asked him to meet with LGBTQ North Carolinians, which he has still
not done. Instead of working with us, Governor McCrory has attacked
us publicly and has continued to falsely characterize our
conversation.”
“North Carolinians deserve better. We
told the governor that if he didn't fix the disaster he created, that
he alone would be responsible for tarnishing the reputation of the
state and killing jobs. We urged him to consult other Republican
governors that have gone through similar battles but who did the
right thing, including Governors Deal and Daugaard,” he added.
Griffin added that McCrory refused to
allow the meeting to be filmed.