North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed a measure to repeal the state's controversial House Bill 2 on Thursday. And it's had a ripple effect, from the NCAA to civil rights groups.
The repeal gets rid of the most talked about part of the state's "bathroom bill": the requirement that people use the restroom matching the gender marked on their birth certificate.
This means the matter of bathroom access is no longer regulated. It's now in the hands of General Assembly, which could apply new regulations in the future.
The new law also bans local governments from passing anti-discrimination laws — which would affect more than just LGBTQ individuals — until December 2020.
Cooper and state lawmakers are calling the repeal a "compromise."
But others are calling it a "shameful #HB2.0 bill," a "bait-and-switch" and a "backroom deal."
The president of the Human Rights Campaign said, "Each and every lawmaker who supported this bill has betrayed the LGBTQ community."
And in a statement, the NAACP's North Carolina chapter said, "Fundamentally, any moratorium on civil rights is not a compromise; it is a contradiction with the principle of equal protection under the law and our moral values."
The timing of the HB2 repeal isn't a coincidence. On March 23, the NCAA said it wouldn't consider scheduling any championship events in the Tar Heel State through 2022 if the bill didn't change.
After the law passed in March 2016, the NCAA relocated seven events it scheduled in North Carolina — including some high-profile basketball games.
The Atlantic Coast Conference also pulled its conference championships scheduled in North Carolina, including football, baseball and women's soccer. And the NBA relocated its All-Star game from Charlotte.
Lawmakers barely passed the repeal before the NCAA's deadline, which didn't sit well with many of the bill's opponents.
Anti-discrimination groups still want the NCAA to skip North Carolina for future events. The collegiate association will announce site selections for the next five years on April 18.
