W.Va. Republicans renewing push for bathroom bill

Charleston, W.Va. (AP) — Some West Virginia Republicans are doubling down on the transgender bathroom issue and other so-called religious freedom bills, despite the backlash in other states that passed similar laws.

The platform passed by delegates to the West Virginia GOP's convention this summer affirmed support of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and supported individuals using the locker room or bathroom corresponding to their genetic sex, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

Two West Virginia lawmakers are pushing for the governor to call a special legislative session to pass a bill that would limit the bathrooms people could use based on their gender.

And while the Religious Freedom Restoration Act failed in the state Senate last session, some West Virginia Republicans are hoping it makes another appearance.

"I hope RFRA comes back," said Melody Potter, the national committeewoman for the West Virginia Republican Party. "Because RFRA was hijacked by the gay lobby and, unfortunately, some of our legislators were intimidated."

Potter is also a member of the Republican National Platform Committee, which passed a socially conservative platform that denounced same-sex marriage and endorsed parents' rights to use conversion therapy on their kids.

West Virginia Republican Party Chairman Conrad Lucas said he hasn't talked to any legislators about the bill but that the party would be supportive if RFRA and a bathroom bill were introduced.

Steve Roberts, the president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, said he doesn't think the bill will be back.

"We think that the bill got such a frosty reception in the West Virginia Senate that it would be hard to bring it back any time in the near future," Roberts said.

The latest blow for North Carolina in the wake of its transgender "bathroom" bill came Thursday, when the National Basketball Association announced that the league would pull the 2017 All-Star game from Charlotte.

The bill, which requires people to use the bathroom associated with the gender on their birth certificate and prevents cities from passing non-discrimination ordinances for the LGBT community, has prompted several businesses and entertainment acts to cancel events and pull employees out of North Carolina.

In addition to the North Carolina backlash, when Indiana passed a religious freedom bill in 2015, a tourism group, called Visit Indy, estimated that the state lost up to $60 million in economic benefits before Indiana Gov. Mike Pence — now the Republican nominee for vice president — weakened the law.

Roberts said he is concerned about similar consequences in West Virginia.

"We would continue to vigorously oppose the bills," he said.

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