Voting North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory out of office is true ‘common sense’
By D’ANNE WITKOWSKI
Hey, remember that anti-gay law in North Carolina, HB2 (which stands for “hate & bullshit”)? Well gosh darn, the whole thing just doesn’t seem to be going very well for them.
Tourism, businesses, the NCAA and ACC (no sportz ball for bigots!), and even Bruce Springsteen canceled, fled, and/or ceased plans for expansion.
In fact, according to Wired magazine, “[T]he total cost to North Carolinians so far from HB2 protests is slightly more than $395 million.” That’s a lot of millions.
The state’s governor, Pat McCrory, is willing to back a repeal of HB2 only if the city of Charlotte agrees to repeal its LGBT rights ordinance, which protects LGBT people from discrimination, including discrimination in public restrooms. But Charlotte’s mayor and city council are all, “Nope.” And McCrory is pissed.
McCrory said in a statement, “Despite offering a very reasonable solution and compromise for North Carolina, it’s obvious that D.C. special interest political pressures on elected Charlotte city officials – and even our own attorney general – again derailed common sense.”
Only a man completely out of touch and/or without a heart thinks that LGBT people are a faceless big pressure “D.C. special interest” group and not, you know, human beings.
And as for common sense, give me a break. Dude: you signed a bill that has resulted in your state hemorrhaging nearly $400,000,000 and counting. You diverted a half a million dollars from disaster relief to pay for HB2-related legal bills. You don’t get a say in “sense,” common or otherwise.
While McCrory may not have the power of common sense, he does have the power to call for a special session of the legislature to repeal HB2. And here’s the thing: even if Charlotte did say, “Oh, okay. We hate LGBT people too, now,” there’s no guarantee that HB2 would get the ax. But McCrory should. May the voters of North Carolina enact the very reasonable solution of voting him out of office.