54 LGBT activists arrested protesting North Carolina privacy law
Fifty-four pro-LGBT activists were arrested protesting North
Carolina’s bathroom privacy law on Monday as the North Carolina legislature
began its session.
Following a rally outside the state capitol, protestors held
sit-ins at state legislators’ offices and then stayed in the building rallying
past the end of the day’s legislative session.
The passage of House Bill 2 and Governor Pat McCrory’s
subsequent signing of it into law has generated fury from LGBT activists and
the left.
Local news stations and the Associated Press captured some of
the protestors’ actions, which included being carried by police out of the
state capitol in plastic handcuffs, shouting, and loudly chanting.
The protestors will be charged with second-degree trespassing and one will be
charged with resisting arrest, according to Acting General Assembly Police
Chief Martin Brock. They will also be cited for violating building rules
or the fire code.
Some of the protestors who were arrested were wearing rainbow
stoles. Rev. William Barber, the President of the North Carolina NAACP,
joined the pro-LGBT protestors.
Rep. Tim Moore, the speaker of the North Carolina House, said
that he doesn’t support discrimination against anyone and that grown men using
women’s bathrooms “defies common sense.” Moore also said that the law
follows the lead of federal law, which doesn’t list sexual orientation and
gender identity as protected classifications.
Many of the protestors convened outside of Moore’s office.
Also on Monday, several thousand supporters of the bathroom
privacy law held a rally to thank and encourage state legislators and Governor
Pat McCrory. NC Values Coalition reported that over 4,000 people joined
the rally, including the Benham brothers and local pastors.
The state’s Episcopal and Methodist bishops have spoken out in
favor of repealing the law. A spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of
Raleigh told WRAL.com that the
diocese doesn’t have a position on HB2 due
to its “complexities” and “the fact that the full legal ramifications are still
being debated.”
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of the Diocese of Raleigh and Bishop
Peter J. Jugis of the Diocese of Charlotte previously
asked the state
legislature to overturn an ordinance in the city of Charlotte, NC that allowed
men to access women’s bathrooms. HB2 was passed partly because of the
Charlotte ordinance.
