Another sign of support for HB2
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Hispanic pastors and faith leaders representing the group "Keep NC Safe" assembled at the legislative building Tuesday to urge state lawmakers not to back down on House Bill 2.
They held signs saying "no men in women's bathrooms."
HB2 was designed to block a Charlotte non-discrimination ordinance, part of which allowed transgender people to use bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with. The state law requires people to use the restroom according to their biological sex listed on their birth certificate in government buildings, schools, and universities. The law also excludes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from anti-discrimination protections and blocks municipalities from adopting their own anti-discrimination and living wage rules.
HB2 EXPLAINED
Tuesday, representatives began the presser with a prayer for the victims of the mass shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub over the weekend.
However, Democratic Representative Chris Sgro, who is openly gay, said he was upset at the timing.
He said Turnout NC had also planned a news conference Tuesday opposing House Bill 2, but canceled it because of the mass shooting.
"The fact that three days after 50 LGBT people were massacred in a hate crime and Keep NC Safe thought it was okay to come here and lobby the North Carolina General Assembly to further discriminate and double down on the worst anti-LGBT bill in the nation's history is disgusting," he offered.
But the Keep NC Safe group said the shooting in Orlando was terrorism, not about targeting gays.
"It's not about any group," said Pastor Maudia Melendez with Federation of Christian Churches of NC. "Safety of everybody. We don't know predators are there. Child molesters are there."
"The shooting has nothing to do with this. The shooting was a terrorist act. We're talking about a man that called and said that he was doing this in the name of ISIS so this has nothing to do with the group being a gay group," he continued.
