North Carolina Kinda Sorta Repeals the ‘Bathroom Bill’

After an Associated Press analysis projected that North Carolina’s HB2 “bathroom bill” limiting LGBT protections will cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost business, the state’s Republican legislature voted to repeal HB2 but puts state legislators in charge of public restrooms. The new measure, HB142, forbids local governments from passing nondiscrimination ordinances covering sexual orientation and gender identity until the end of 2020. “It’s not a perfect deal, but it repeals House Bill 2 and begins to repair our reputation,” said Governor Roy Cooper, who signed the bill on Thursday.

Why the rush to yesterday’s sloppy compromise? The NCAA set a Thursday deadline for HB2 repeal; without that, the state would lose hosting rights at all NCAA tournaments through 2022.​ The ultimatum is convincing, since North Carolina lost the league’s March Madness tournament games this year due to the discriminatory law. NCAA is reviewing the new law to see if it passes muster.

HB 142 apparently doesn’t repeal HB2’s other repressive elements, which bar Tarheel State cities and counties from adopting minimum wages above the $7.25 level, except for government employees (must be a lot of cousins on those county payrolls). The law also limits how people pursue claims of discrimination in state courts, forcing these matters into the federal court system. There’s a lot of things in the new bathroom bill that still doesn’t smell right.

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NBA Flushes North Carolina’s All-Star Game Down the Toilet

The 2017 NBA All-Star game will be moved from Charlotte, North Carolina to another location because of the Tarheel State’s bathroom legislation, the Association announced last Thursday.  The “Bathroom Law,” aka HB2, requires people to use gender-separated bathrooms and changing rooms according to the sex on their birth certificates, which denies transgender people access to public facilities.The All Star Game isn’t just a single pro hoops contest; it’s a 3-day weekend series of events for basketball fans, supported by the NBA, league sponsors, and local businesses, and the cancellation will cost state businesses an estimated $100 million.

ARRGHHH!!! responded North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, or words to that effect. The NBA’s Charlotte Hornets issued a perfunctory statement accepting the situation and urging Carolinians to get it together or lose any chance at the 2019 All Star Game.

Other businesses and events have also cancelled plans for activities in North Carolina. Over 200 CEOs of major companies (including the state’s largest employers) have signed an open letter urging the law’s repeal. Scores of state, county, and city governments have forbidden government-related travel to North Carolina due to the law.The bathroom law is flushing billions of dollars in business activity and tax revenue down the toilet.

More:

“The NBA Has Moved The All-Star Game From North Carolina Because Of Anti-LGBT Law,” Kevin Draper, Deadspin

“NBA pulls 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte over HB2 law,” Sports Illustrated

“NBA will move 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte over HB2 law,” Tim Bontemps, Washington Post

Related:

“House Bill 2 could cost N.C. $5 billion a year, report says,” Katherine Peralta, Charlotte Observer 

“Police officers have no idea how to enforce North Carolina’s new ‘bathroom law,” Mark Abadi, Business Insider

“North Carolina’s ‘bathroom’ law is about more than who’s in the next stall,” Paul Woolverton, Fayetteville Observer

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Orlando: American Shoots Other Americans

A heavily armed native-born American walked into an Orlando gay bar Sunday morning and killed at least 49 other Americans before he was shot by police. Actually, some people may say the perpetrator was not a real American because he was born in New York.

50 49 victims are known dead and about an equal number have been hospitalized, many in critical condition. At this time investigators have not established and reported other facts, but this has not kept commentators and politicians from recklessly flapping their gums. We await the NRA’s inevitable pronouncements that the shooter was mentally ill and that the bar patrons should have been armed.

More:

“The gun used in the Orlando shooting is becoming mass shooters’ weapon of choice,” Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post

“Ex-CIA Chief: It’s Way Past Time for an Assault Weapons Ban,” John McLaughlin, OZY

“Orlando nightclub shooting suspect bought guns within week of attack,” Mary Shanklin, Orlando Sentinel

“Assault weapons remain legal and easy to purchase in US,” Ryan J. Foley, Associated Press

“Ban on Weapon Used in Orlando More Distant Than Ever, Even If Clinton Wins,” Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine

“Florida Nightclub Attack Just the Latest US Mass Shooting,” AP via NBC News

“Orlando shooting: The key things to know about about guns and mass shootings in America,” Max Ehrenfreund, Washington Post

“Orlando Shooting, 16 Front Pages From Newspapers Around The World,” Helene Snyder, Worldcrunch

Related:

“U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparisons,” Jonathan Masters, Council on Foreign Relations

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North Carolina’s HB2 Is Not Just a ‘Bathroom Bill’

North Carolina has a new state law protectin’ the buddin’ flowah of Southron Womanhood from having to share public restrooms with transgender women. But the school bathroom hysteria disguises other aspects of the law, which is really a catchall of conservative peeves.

HB2 doesn’t just forbid the Tarheel State’s cities and counties from protecting LGBT rights, it also bars them from adopting minimum wages above the $7.25 level, except for government employees. Must be a lot of cousins on those county payrolls.

The law also limits how people pursue claims of discrimination in state courts, forcing these into the federal court system. Previously, employees wrongfully terminated due to  race, sex, national origin, religion, age, or disability could file tort claims in state court. Now, if your boss fires you just because of your age — too bad.

The anti-LGBT stalking horse is being used by NC business interests to clamp down on employees, by rural politicians to spite their state’s cities, and by Republican candidates as a political wedge issue. North Carolina’s underpaid workers should think about that when they get their next skimpy paychecks, or when they’re wrongfully terminated.

Pope in the USA: Punk’d by a Tea Party Saint, Hugged Gay Guys

When Everybody’s favorite pontiff, Pope Francis, visited Washington DC in September he had a secret meeting with intolerant, oath-breaking Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis and her current husband. It was a secret to His Holiness, anyway, who had no earthly idea who Mrs. Davis is. She was apparently one of many people he greeted during his Vatican Embassy stay.

Pope Francis didn’t set up the meeting; it was arranged by papal nucio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Vatican’s envoy to the US, who was sent to the States by former Pope Benedict XVI to keep him from meddling in Vatican City politics. Archbishop Viganò turns 75 in a few months and is expected to be “retired” by the current pontiff.

While in DC Pope Francis met with a same-sex couple, Washington caterer Yayo Grassi and his long-time partner Iwan Bagus. His Holiness had personally invited Mr. Grassi, his former student at Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepción in Argentina, to a private audience, and there were hugs all around.

Lawyers for Kim Davis from the Falwell-affiliated Liberty Counsel claimed that the Pope’s off-the-cuff comments on conscientious objectors referred to their client, but the Vatican denied this, and many have observed that the county clerk is not a CO since she forced her beliefs on her deputies rather than letting them act on their own. Papal spokesmen have emphasized that the Papal greeting was not a show of support for the delinquent Rowan County clerk.

Supreme Court: Love Wins, 5 to 4.

On Friday the Supreme Court of the United States announced its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. The majority (Justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan) held that the Due Process Clause of the 5th Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment guarantee marriage equality for same-sex couples in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories of the United States. The USA is now one of 21 countries with nationwide marriage equality.

Let’s Hear it for Good Old Nebraska

Judge Joseph F. Bataillon of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska has issued an injunction ruling that Nebraska’s same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional, and that as of March 9th, “all relevant state officials are ordered to treat same-sex couples the same as different sex couples in the context of processing a marriage license or determining the rights, protections, obligations or benefits of marriage.”

Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson has filed an appeal with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Marriage Equality in the Heart of Dixie

Federal District Judge Callie Granade has struck down two Alabama state laws banning same-sex marriage. Alabama is now the 37th state where same-sex marriage is legal.

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South Dakota Marriage Equality

U.S. District Court Judge Karen Schreier has ruled than South Dakota’s ban on same-sex marriage is in violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. “Plaintiffs have a fundamental right to marry,” wrote Judge Schreier.  “South Dakota law deprives them of that right solely because they are same-sex couples and without sufficient justification.” The judge stayed her ruling pending appeals, which SD Attorney General Marty Jackley has promised. The attorney for the successful plaintiffs intends to appeal the stay.

More:

“Judge strikes down South Dakota gay marriage ban,” Reid Wilson, Washington Post

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Marriage Equality in Virginia. And 10 Other States.

The Supreme Court declined to reconsider federal appeals court rulings overturning bans on gay marriage in five states. Same-sex marriage is now legal in Virginia, Utah, Oklahoma, Indiana and Wisconsin. Six other states — Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming — bound by the same appellate rulings had stayed same-sex marriage pending the Supreme Court’s review, and should get with the program shortly. That means marriage equality is the law in 30 states and the District of Columbia.