'Dirty Deal' Aims to Save NC From Boycott Over Anti-Trans Law

Late on Wednesday lawmakers in North Carolina announced they had reached an agreement to repeal the discriminatory "Bathroom Bill" which targets transgendered persons.

RELATED:
North Carolina Facing Boycotts over Anti-Transgender Law

The announcement came just hours before North Carolina was poised to lose hosting rights to any National Collegiate Athletic Association sports championships, part of a nation-wide boycott of the state after it implemented the widely condemned House Bill 2, which forces transgendered people to use bathrooms according to the sex indicated on their birth certificate.

The deal announced late on Wednesday will formally repeal HB 2, yet will keep in place a "temporary moratorium" on municipal non-discrimination ordinances, a move widely condemned by activists.

A municipal law passed in Charlotte, North Carolina in Feb. 2016 guaranteed non-discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations and government contracting. House Bill 2 was introduced to override the Charlotte bill.

While many rushed to hail the agreement to repeal as a victory for the year-long boycott campaign against the state, LGBT and human rights groups were quick to condemn the compromise as simply a face-saving gesture.

"This is a dirty deal," said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, one of the groups leading the fight against the bill.

"The rumored HB2 'deal' does nothing more than double-down on discrimination and would ensure North Carolina remains the worst state in the nation for LGBTQ people," Griffin added in a statement. "The consequences of this hateful law will only continue without full repeal of HB2. Sellouts cave under pressure. Leaders fight for what's right."

While North Carolina does have statewide legislation banning discrimination based on race and religion, it offers no statewide protections for LGBT persons.

Griffin further suggested that the compromise agreement was a cynical attempt to avoid the economic consequences of a national boycott campaign of the state.

Estimates suggest that in the 12 months since the boycott campaign against HB 2 was launched, the state has lost almost US$4 billion in revenues.

Both the NBA and NCAA had already moved scheduled games and many major musicians refused to play in the state, most prominent among them Bruce Springsteen, who canceled a concert in April. Even major corporations, such as PayPal and Deutsche Bank, had canceled planned expansions in the state.

However one major corporation — San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. — almost immediately came out against the attempted compromise bill.

In announcing his support for the compromise agreement, Democratic Governor Roy Cooper — who campaigned against H.B. 2 — trumpeted the public relations benefits of the agreement, while acknowledging its faults.

"I support the House Bill 2 repeal compromise that will be introduced tomorrow," Cooper said. "It's not a perfect deal, but it repeals House Bill 2 and begins to repair our reputation."

It's unclear how the compromise bill will fare in the North Carolina state congress, especially given that state Democrats had rejected an earlier repeal attempt which maintained a moratorium on municipal non-discrimination bylaws.