Opinion Roundup: HB2, the compromise that wasn't

N.C. pays a price for bigotry (New York Times) -- It’s not too late for Gov. Pat McCrory to come to his senses and take the only way out — admit ignorance and error and repeal the law. While he and lawmakers are at it, they can acknowledge that no one has been made safer by preventing transgender people from using appropriate public restrooms, the ostensible reason for passing the law. The rule was never enforceable, since police officers can’t reasonably be required to inspect people’s genitals outside bathroom stalls. The point of the law was to harm and humiliate L.G.B.T. citizens, and for that all North Carolinians are having to pay an ever growing price.

McCrory, others behind HB2 hurting state (Elizabeth City Daily Advance) -- The issue: North Carolina’s image and economy was victimized again last week when the NCAA and the ACC athletic organizations pulled several tournament events out of the state in response to the HB2 “bathroom law.” Our position: The governor and many legislative leaders continue to defend the law with a flimsy, unsubstantiated call of protection of privacy, while ignoring the law’s overt discriminatory impact and the image of intolerance and economic damage the bill has caused and will cause in the future.

HB2 just keeps on hurting us worse (Southern Pines Pilot) -- So now the NCAA has decided to pull out all seven championship sports events that had been scheduled for North Carolina in the 2016-17 academic year. And all because of a different kind of March Madness.

N.C. leaders remain – indignantly – on wrong side of HB2 (Smoky Mountain News) -- When it comes to HB2, our state’s Republican leadership will eventually prove to be on the wrong side of history. Just give it some time.

ALAN JOHNSON: Gov. this is your better judgment calling (Greensboro News & Record column) -- This is BJ calling again. You know, BJ ... your Better Judgment. … I was hoping we could sit down over a cup of coffee and get reacquainted. We used to be real close, but I’m starting to worry. You seem distant. I’m even starting to wonder if you’re the same guy. What was up with that joke about bathrooms at a Trump rally? And that one-liner about “PC BS?” Also, what’s with “the liberal media” rhetoric? Remember how many endorsements you got from those guys. Even the paper in Greensboro endorsed you over a Democrat. Twice. And what’s up with HB 2? Why even pick this fight in the first place?

MYRON B. PITTS: Misguided HB2 pulling us down (Fayetteville Observer column) -- Most frustrating is that Gov. Pat McCrory, House Speaker tim Moore and the whole lot know exactly how the HB2 controversy will end. The courts will overturn it, just like they did with our other lunk-headed attempts at open discrimination, from Amendment One, which banned same-sex marriage; to the voter restrictions passed in 2013 that a federal appeals panel said in July targeted black voters with "surgical precision." Meantime, we will continue to lose big events, some of which have been booked years in advance and may take years to get back. We'll let multiple millions of dollars walk across state lines. All for a partisan law that was never meant to protect anyone and, accordingly, protects no one.

City council shouldn't sell out Charlotte's LGBT community (Charlotte Observer) – Gov. Pat McCrory and some N.C. lawmakers are encouraging the Charlotte City Council to make a compromise that might result in the repeal of HB2. It’s a bad deal for the city, and more importantly, for members of the LGBT community who would lose their best chance at protection from discrimination. Council members should not turn their backs on those residents now.

TIM WHITE: A road not taken could have spared HB2 fallout (Fayetteville Observer column) -- It didn't need to happen this way. And it wouldn't have, if our state's political leaders were real leaders, not just partisan cheerleaders. But we haven't seen real leadership in the governor's office since Jim Hunt's day, and over in the General Assembly, the only leadership is the bosses of the majority party stomping on the heads of the minority party members. Democrats did that for years, and since they lost their grip, Republicans have been pretty gleeful about their revenge. But they don't lead, not any of them. They only understand governance by blunt-force trauma, administered by a bright-red sledgehammer. It's killing us.

Let’s not miss chance to repeal HB2, Charlotte Chamber chair says (Charlotte Observer column) -- How many missed opportunities can we afford when it comes to HB 2? No matter what your personal position on the law might be, there generally is universal agreement the law has resulted in significant brand damage and adverse economic consequences for our city and state.

It's up to the legislature to act, not Charlotte (Greensboro News & Record column) -- The damage — most recently the decisions by the NCAA and ACC to pull championship events from North Carolina — was triggered not by what Charlotte did but by what the legislature and governor did in response.

An HB2 compromise that works for all (Charlotte Observer column) -- There is little doubt that the swirling controversy generated by HB2 has wreaked dramatic damage on our community’s reputation as an open and welcoming place for business. The negative impact on our economy is real, with many who don’t really have an opinion on the matter feeling the business pain.

Not Charlotte's fault (Greensboro News & Record) -- Greensboro didn’t lose a Bruce Springsteen concert and NCAA and ACC athletic events because Charlotte passed an anti-discrimination ordinance.