House Bill 2 and Its Impact in North Carolina

Callena Williams
 In 2016, the North Carolina General Assembly passed An Act to Provide for Single-sex

Multiple Occupancy Bathroom and Changing Facilities in Schools and Public Agencies and to

Create Statewide Consistency in Regulation of Employment and Public Accommodations, or

most commonly known as House Bill 2. This act would cause much controversy regarding

LGBTQ+ rights in North Carolina.

On February 22, 2016 the Charlotte City Council passed an ordinance stating that

“discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in public accommodations or

by passenger vehicles for hire or city contractors” is prohibited (Non-Discrimination Ordinance).

Exactly one month later, the NC House of Representatives and the Senate called the General

Assembly into a special meeting on March 23rd. On that day House Bill 2 was passed,

overturning the ordinance. The ordinance was called a “breach of basic privacy and etiquette” by

former Governor Pat McCrory (Burns., Leslie, 2016). It didn’t take long for big organizations to

take notice of the controversy bill and begin taking action. House Bill 2 was dubbed the

“bathroom law” because of it requiring people to use the bathroom that aligns with the gender

listed on their birth certificate (Burns., Leslie, 2016). Almost immediately after the bill was

passed, multiple articles were released that brought to light backlash that the bill received from

the residents of North Carolina. Protests over the bill started almost immediately,starting in

Raleigh and progressing to other states such as Asheville, Winston-Salem and Greensboro. There

were multiple universities that also protested against the bill. Student from the UNC system

protested by conducting a bathroom sit in (Deery, 2016). North Carolina was at the center of the

media for months, and as the months went by the negative impact of the bill became more

apparent.
 House Bill 2 didn’t just anger the residents of North Carolina, it also angered other

government officials. Chapel Hill, Winston-Salem, Durham, and even the state capital of Raleigh

wrote resolutions that called for the repeal of the bill (Specht, 2016). The controversy even reach

the federal level when former President Barack Obama called for House Bill 2 to be repeal on

April 22nd ( Chambers, 2016). The 2016 presidential candidates also condemned the bill.

However, despite all the negatives the bill brought on, it also brought something positive. Two

weeks after the bill was passed, Chris Sgo, the leader of Equality NC, became the first openly

LGBT member to be apart of the North Carolina House of Representatives (“Leader of LGBT

rights organization”, 2016). He would continue to be vocal about his dislike for the bill, causing

him to continually clash with Governor McCrory.

The backlash didn’t stop with government officials, religious organizations criticized the

bill as well. Four bishops of the Episcopal Church said the bill discriminated against the LGBT

and called for multiple North Carolinian Episcopalians "to strive for justice and peace among all

people, and respect the dignity of every human being" (‘North Carolina bishops issue statement”,

2016). The media also got in on the conversation as The Charlotte Observer published an article

titled “A governor does right things-but not ours”. In the article, the Charlotte Observer tells the

story of Georgia governor Nathan Deal and how he vetoed House Bill 757, which was getting

some the same backlash the House Bill 2 received. The Charlotte Observer doubled down on the

criticism, saying McCrory has a “distaste for equality” (“A governor does right thing”, 2016).

The News and Observer also published an article expressing their disagreement with the bill and

even criticized the entire state saying,

 In North Carolina, however, it’s painfully obvious that official state policy is

hostile to the gay and transgender communities. From Amendment One to a law

allowing state officials to refuse to facilitate legal same-sex marriages to, now,

repealing local protections against discrimination, the state of North Carolina

has made it abundantly clear that this population is unwelcome — whatever

attitudes cities hold to the contrary (“Our Opinion: Bad day for our state”,2016).

House bill 2 didn’t just attract a lot of controversy, it also cost North Carolina a

lot of money. The Associated Press estimated that House bill 2 would cost North

Carolina 3.76 billion over 12 years. There were multiple companies that have stopped

expanding into North Carolina because of the bill, one of the major companies being

Paypal. With Paypal no longer expanding into North Carolina, North Carolina lost out on

an estimate of 400 jobs with a 20 million annual payroll (Schulman, 2016). North

Carolina also suffered a drop in tourism as a result of a multitude of states issuing travel

bans.. Major states who issued the travel ban include California, New York, Minnesota,

Washington and many more (Coolidge, 2016). Conventions that were originally supposed

to be in North Carolina decided to go to another location. In April of 2016, the Kellogg

Foundation opted not to host its conference at the Omni in Asheville, which in turn cost

the state economy 1.5 million (Boyle, 2016). Future movies and tv shows also decided to

choose other locations to film because of HB2.

The response from celebrities was overwhelmingly negative as well. Several

artists have cancelled shows in protest to the bill including Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas,

Maroon 5 and Bruce Springsteen. Bruce Springteen’s cancellation cost the Greensboro
Coliseum Complex $100,000 in parking and concessions (“To boycott, or not to

boycott”, 2016). Entertainment shows such as Cirque Du Soleil. There were some artists

that didn’t cancel but they did donate money made from the concerts to LGBT rights

organizations, for example, Cyndi Lauper still had her concert in Raleigh but instead

repackaged it as a anti HB2 concert by using the money raised going to efforts that would

help overturn the bill (“To boycott, or not to boycott”, 2016). The Lumineers, an

american folk band, protested the bill in a more physical way by adding gender-neutral

bathrooms at their concert in Cary, North Carolina. In addition to adding gender-neutral

bathrooms they also added an incentive for their fans. They posted this statement on their

website prior to the concert. “Anyone who donates more than $50 to EqualityNC will be

eligible for a Soundcheck party and Meet and Greet that evening before the show,” (“The

Lumineers will provide gender-neutral bathrooms”, 2016).

Perhaps the most well known impact of the bill is the response from multiple

sports organizations. In July of 2016, the NBA All-Star game was pulled out of Charlotte

and would instead be held in New Orleans. Financial loss was estimated to be over 100

million. Openly gay NBA player, Jason Collins, released this statement in support of the

NBA’s decision to move the All-Star game.

As a member of the NBA family and as a gay man, I’m extremely proud to see
the NBA take initiative and move the All-Star Game from North Carolina. Their
decision is an extremely poignant one and shows that discrimination of any kind
is not welcome in sports and is not acceptable in any part of our society. The NBA
 has set the best kind of example and precedent moving forward for all to follow
(Zillgitt, 2016).

The NBA wouldn’t be the only sporting organization to show their disagreement with
the bill. The NCAA would moved it’s championship tournament games out of North
Carolina. The games that were moved include men and women’s soccer and basketball
games. The HB2 controversy would move into 2017 when the NCAA threatened to not
host anymore championships games through 2022 if HB2 wasn’t repealed. NCAA gave
North Carolina a 48 hour deadline to repeal the bill. On March 30th, 2017 North
Carolina repeal parts of the bill relating to the bathroom.

Even though parts of the bill were repealed, a lot of LGBT activists called it a
fake repeal and said they would continue to fight to repeal the entire bill. As on 2018,
the NBA All Star game will be held in Charlotte, NC.