N.C. Dems pan ‘keep our state straight’ remark
54 are arrested amid protests against, for state’s anti-LGBT law
RALEIGH, N.C. — Rhetorical skirmishes continued Tuesday in North Carolina over a law limiting protections for LGBT people, as Democrats criticized a Republican’s plea to “keep our state straight.”
The criticism came a day after dueling demonstrations drew thousands of protesters for and against the law, ending with the arrests of 54 people voicing their opposition to the law in the Legislative Building.
At a demonstration supporting the law earlier Monday, the state’s Republican nominee for attorney general, state Sen. Buck Newton, urged the crowd to “tell your friends and family who had to work today what this is all about and how hard we must fight to keep our state straight.”
The North Carolina Democratic Party issued a statement Tuesday calling the comments hateful and discriminatory toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. They called for Newton, who shepherded the legislation through the senate, to apologize.
Newton told reporters on Tuesday that the phrase “keep our state straight” had nothing to do with sexual orientation. “It means keep men out of the ladies’ room,” he said.
North Carolina’s top elected Republican leaders have said they don’t plan to repeal the law, a stance likely to stoke further protests.
The law also blocks local and state protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people at their jobs and in public accommodations. It takes away people’s ability to use state law to sue over workplace discrimination.
The leader of a national advocacy group said Tuesday that transgender people used restrooms aligned with their gender identity on Monday during protests in the Legislative Building and weren’t arrested for it, despite the law’s provisions. The law directs transgender people to use restrooms in public buildings corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate, though it doesn’t spell out an enforcement mechanism.
Mara Keisling, director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said the stance of state Republican leaders toward transgender restroom access is “nonsense” considering that transgender people have often been able to go about their day without unwanted attention in recent years.
On Monday night, Keisling was among demonstrators arrested after refusing to leave a legislative leader’s office, but the arrests weren’t related to restroom access. Eighteen entered a legislative leader’s office and began chanting. The rest were arrested a couple of hours later in a corridor when officers sought to close the building.