N.C. governor speaks out about queer backlash

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory is speaking up about the amount of backlash his state has received since House Bill 2, the anti-queer legislation that forces trans people to use public restrooms that do not correspond with their gender identity. He’s also convinced that the whole thing is a plot to remove him from office.

“You’ve got to be politically naïve if you think this is not coordinated by a very effective — a very effective — group,” McCrory told The New York Times.

Before April, and the entire nation shunned the state, McCrory was leading in the polls over his Democratic opponent, the state’s Attorney General, Roy Cooper. After HB 2 was passed, Cooper pledged not to defend the legislation in court, calling it a “national embarrassment.”

Today, according to a recent Elon University poll of registered voters in North Carolina, Cooper is leading by six points.

But, it’s not just queers and Rory that the governor is after. He’s also got his eyes set on the Charlotte City Council. n February, the city’s government voted — in a 5-4 decision — to extend its existing nondiscrimination laws, which allow equal access in all public accommodations, to Charlotte’s trans residents. McCrory warned council members prior to the vote that he would have no choice but to push through a state law striking it down, in order to protect “basic restroom and locker room norms,” according to the Times.

It’ doesn’t stop there. In an effort to push blame on anyone but himself, McCrory started pointing fingers at Charlotte’s mayor, Jennifer Roberts. In a campaign email on Monday, McCrory shaded Roberts for “backing the ordinance that prompted House Bill 2,” which included clips of the mayor discussing the legislation in public appearances.

“The clips… should help refresh your memory that the topic of bathrooms was first raised by the radical left when — over warnings from the governor and other state leaders that they should have left restroom norms way they were and focus on (other) things — Roy Cooper’s allies decided to push through Charlotte’s radical bathroom mandate anyway,” spokesman for the McCrory campaign, Ricky Diaz, told the Charlotte Observer.