HRC makes NC Senate President’s letter to CEOs public

On Friday, the Human Rights Campaign publically posted a rambling, self-serving and untruthful letter from North Carolina Sen. President Pro-Tem Phil Berger defending the state’s discriminatory HB2. HRC took the liberty of marking up the letter in a fact-checking effort, before posting the letter.

According to Winston-Salem, NC news station WXII12, “In the letter, Republican Senate leader Phil Berger appears to try to assuage the businesses' fears about the law, but also remarks: ‘Make no mistake: I supported, and continue to support, the legislation.’"

At the same time the letter was posted, HRC issued a press release, saying, ”Further compounding the HB2 economic catastrophe that North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore inflicted on the state when they rammed the dangerous legislation through in less than a day, they are now doubling down on their refusal to listen to the business community. While CEOs and business leaders have spoken with one voice over the past six weeks, calling on North Carolina leaders to repeal HB2, Senator Berger has sent a letter to corporate leaders defending his discriminatory HB2 law.

“The letter, sent just before the state legislature returned to session, inherently acknowledges what an economic disaster HB2 has been for the state as companies look to protect their employees and consumers from discrimination and harm. It also contains the worst of the lies and misinformation Senator Berger has been peddling over the last six weeks.”

The four-page letter contains many evasions and misstatements, which HRC points out in its edits.

For example, Berger writes, “Charlotte’s actions put the General Assembly on notice of the very real threat that a hodgepodge of regulation by individual cities and counties, regardless of party affiliations, risks hamstringing our state’s booming economy with confusion, red tape and legal challenges.” HRC points out that the real threat is the risk of harming people.

Berger cites a letter he sent to the state’s Attorney General requesting he stop the Charlotte anti-discrimination ordinance immediately, which he says would have avoided “the need for legislation” which he says he wanted to avoid. Instead, in a quick one-day session, the legislature passed HB2, which not only nullified Charlotte’s law, and prevented all other cities from passing similar ones, but also explicitly created discrimination against transgender people.

HRC notes that the Attorney General thinks HB2 is unconstitutional and is refusing to defend it.

Berger points out that state law allows trans people who have completed “sexual reassignment surgery” to have their birth certificate gender marker amended. This ignores the fact that current medical opinion on transition is that surgery may or may not be required for a person to change their gender.

Berger blatantly states that, “Ill-intentioned, non-transgender individuals, some with criminal pasts, have used similar ordinances elsewhere in the country to gain legal access to changing facilities and bathrooms of minors of the opposite sex.” HRC points out they would be arrested for voyeurism or assault if they did.

HRC further noted that, “A group of 250+ sexual assault and domestic violence orgs just called your bluff on this last week. Also, more Republican elected officials have been arrested in bathrooms than transgender people.”

Chad Griffin, president of HRC, said, “Senator Berger is defending the indefensible. He knows HB2 is an unmitigated disaster that strikes at the basic rights and dignity of North Carolinians. In the face of so many business voices denouncing the bill and calling for its full repeal, Senator Berger is desperately digging in even further. He is lying about local laws and recycling dangerous myths about transgender people that have been soundly rejected by both the business community and fair-minded North Carolinians.”

Matt Hirschy, Director of Advancement, Equality NC, said, "It is disheartening to see Senator Berger use the same misinformation that has dominated so much of the debate leading to the passing of the discriminatory House Bill 2. He appears to think that these executives, companies and their collective attorneys don't fully understand the intention or focus of the bill when in fact they are very aware and worried.

“Furthermore, Senator Berger claims that ‘one of those narratives misstates the impact of the law’, yet he is quick to dismiss the countless people coming out against HB2 who are negatively affected by the bill. We urge the Senator to meet with the transgender North Carolinians who now fear for their safety and meet with the mothers whose children are being bullied at school because of this harmful law. We implore the Senator to really listen to his constituents, not just the ones that he is counting on at the polls in November."

HRC concludes its statement by saying, “Gov. McCrory and state lawmakers are under increasingly intense pressure to repeal HB2. More than 180 leading CEOs and business leaders are urging Gov. McCrory and the North Carolina General Assembly to repeal the deeply discriminatory law that’s bad for business and bad for North Carolina. Mayors and governors across the country are banning travel to the state, musicians are cancelling concerts, and the New York Times editorial board called North Carolina a ‘pioneer in bigotry.’

“The NBA has threatened next year’s All-Star Game in Charlotte, NASCAR has spoken about its opposition publicly, and the NCAA has said it won’t schedule events - including the Final Four - in cities that don’t have fully-inclusive non-discrimination laws. Major film studios and corporations, from PayPal to Deutsche Bank, have stopped investments in the state because of the new law. The United Kingdom’s Foreign Office has even warned its LGBT citizens of the risks of traveling to North Carolina.

:HRC and Equality NC continue to call for the full repeal of HB2, a blatantly discriminatory law targeting transgender people, and denying municipalities supporting LGBT equality from extending non-discrimination protections to all of their residents.”

Read HRC’s press release here.

View Berger’s letter marked up by HRC here.

The Gayly – April 29, 2016 @ 2:25 p.m.