Family Research Council president Tony Perkins says North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has shown “political courage” and “moral clarity” by refusing to acquiesce to the NBA’s threats to move its 2017 All-Star game out of his state.
“I commend North Carolina Governor McCrory for his political courage and moral clarity in not caving in to the NBA’s threats to move the All-Star game,” Perkins said in a statement. “He stared down the giant of the NBA and stood strong against government discrimination of private entities and for the principles of protecting privacy and safety in government buildings.”
Perkins is reacting to the NBA’s announcement of its decision to move the 2017 All-Star game from Charlotte, North Carolina to New Orleans, Louisiana. The NBA objects to the state’s House Bill 2, which affirms the longstanding public expectation that men should use men’s bathrooms and women should use women’s bathrooms.
McCrory signed the privacy and public safety bill into law to replace an ordinance in Charlotte that allowed any man who simply declared himself to be a woman to use women’s restrooms. The ordinance was pushed forward by registered sex offender Chad Sevearance-Turner.
The new law stirred other opposition from LGBT sympathizers who boycotted the state, including Bruce Springsteen and PayPal. These social justice warriors argue the law discriminates against transgendered individuals or anyone who – at any given time of the day – believes he or she is a member of the opposite sex and wishes to use the bathroom of that sex.
In addition, President Barack Obama’s deputies at the Department of Justice have filed a lawsuit against North Carolina, claiming that the state’s privacy law violates the civil rights of gay and transgender individuals.
“My home state of Louisiana, like North Carolina, is one of 32 states in the U.S. that does not force private businesses to allow men in women’s showers, locker rooms, and restrooms,” Perkins continued. “On the other hand, in New Orleans—the same as in Charlotte—the NBA will be free to divide the restrooms at its own event on the basis of self-professed ‘gender identity’ instead of objective biological sex, if it wishes to do so.”
“Only politics—not the well-being of transgender persons or anyone else—motivated this disruptive and punitive move,” he asserted. “The hypocrisy of the NBA over North Carolina’s HB 2 law is utterly stunning. The NBA is willing to turn a blind eye and play games in countries, like the People’s Republic of China, that regularly oppress their own citizens.”
On Friday, the Obama administration inserted a rule into the Federal Register that prevents all federal properties and facilities from operating single-sex bathrooms.
In May, the Obama administration issued a directive that all public schools must allow gender-confused students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms according to their preferred “gender identity” at any given time. As is often the case with Obama administration decrees, they are backed by threats to cut federal funding designated for school districts that oppose the policy.
According to one study of the 2010 census, the population of transgender people amounts to one in every 2,400 Americans, or 0.03 percent of the adult population. Multiple polls show that Obama’s transgender policy is very unpopular.