N.C. GOP Tries (and Fails) to Shut Down Forum on Anti-LGBT Law

The North Carolina Republican Party attempted to shut down a forum on House Bill 2 held by The CharlotteObserver, one it alleged would amount to an infomercial for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Roy Cooper.

The state's GOP lodged a formal complaint with the elections board on Tuesday, asking it to cancel a public discussion on HB 2 hosted by the Observer and Red Ventures, a marketing firm based in Charlotte. The complaint alleged potential bias. The Observer elected not to endorse Gov. Pat McCrory for the first time in his political career. The Observer had a record stretching back to 1992 of endorsing McCrory. Red Ventures CEO Ric Elias donated to Cooper's campaign.

Opinion on HB 2 has remained bitterly divided since it was passed in March.

Forced through the state's legislature during an emergency session, the bill was introduced, debated, and signed into law within a single day. The law forces transgender people to use public restrooms that do not correspond with their gender identity when visiting government buildings and schools. It also keeps cities from enacting their own protections to benefit the LGBT community.

The complaint from the GOP alleged that Democrats were attempting to influence the 2016 race, given the "proximity in time to the general election and its focus on an issue repeatedly raised by the Democrat party and Roy Cooper."

Rick Thames, the executive editor of the Observer, dismissed claims the event was politically motivated.

"It's ludicrous to suggest that this is anything other than a forum to help voters," Thames said in a response published in the Charlotte newspaper Tuesday. "We've made every effort possible to make this a forum that represents all views."

Because there were no allegations of wrongdoing that would violate the state's campaign finance laws, the event was held Wednesday night in the face of Republican opposition. The panel for the forum was a bipartisan coalition that included LGBT activists, journalists, politicians, and even a representative of a GOP think tank.

On Wednesday, former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot pointed the finger at the City Council for "making Charlotte a guinea pig," the Observer reports. In February, the council passed a public accommodations law giving trans people equal access in city parks, restaurants, museums, and public restrooms.

According to Vinroot, that act, which he considers government overreach, forced the state's hand. While he agrees that trans North Carolinians deserve equal rights, the Republican added, "We're not there yet."

Forum attendee Pam Burton, a parent of four who identified herself as a born-again Christian, said she worried about the Charlotte ordinance's impact on young people. McCrory and others who supported HB 2 as a response to the Charlotte law warned that allowing trans people equal access in public bathrooms would be a "free pass" for sexual predators, who would then use the law to target children.

But her fear is unfounded. In the more than 200 localities with similar nondiscrimination laws on the books, there has not been a single verified report of a trans person harming someone else in a public bathroom.

Robert E. Hagemann, the Charlotte city attorney, pointed to Columbia, S.C., a city that has had laws banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation on the books since 2008. In the eight years the law has been in place, there hasn't been an uptick in sexual assaults in public restrooms.

Trans activist Fletcher Page argued that the discussion should really be about the transgender people affected by discriminatory legislation. A trans friend, just 16 years old, recently took his own life, and laws like HB 2 don't make the world easier for him.

"This is more than about bathrooms," Page said. "This is about lives."

Although the Observer invited Republican politicians currently holding office at the local and state levels to the Wednesday forum, the paper reports that not one came to the event. Instead, local right-wing groups asked their followers to harass the forum and its moderators, branding it as nothing but a "political stunt."

The tone at the forum was mostly civil, the paper notes, but an exception came where conservative Christian activist Flip Benham interrupted transgender woman Erica Lachowitz by shouting "Abomination!" and then repeatedly asked a minister at the event, "Is sodomy a sin?" He was escorted from the venue by police.