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| North Carolina Lawmakers Met With Protests Over Bias Law | North Carolina Lawmakers Met With Protests Over Bias Law |
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| RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina General Assembly, already buffeted by weeks of bitter debate over a law about gay and transgender rights, faced competing demonstrations and new pressure as lawmakers opened their annual session here on Monday. | RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina General Assembly, already buffeted by weeks of bitter debate over a law about gay and transgender rights, faced competing demonstrations and new pressure as lawmakers opened their annual session here on Monday. |
| The immediate fate of the law, which limits bathroom access for transgender people in public buildings and broadly forbids discrimination claims in state courts, was not in question, after Republican leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers said they anticipated leaving the measure intact. Yet supporters and critics alike used the General Assembly’s return as a rallying point about a law that set off an economic backlash and shoved the state into a rollicking national debate. | The immediate fate of the law, which limits bathroom access for transgender people in public buildings and broadly forbids discrimination claims in state courts, was not in question, after Republican leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers said they anticipated leaving the measure intact. Yet supporters and critics alike used the General Assembly’s return as a rallying point about a law that set off an economic backlash and shoved the state into a rollicking national debate. |
| “We are using the tools available to us in democracy — petitions, lobbying, public protests, civil disobedience — to say this law is wrong at its core, and it must be immediately repealed,” said the Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, the executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality. | “We are using the tools available to us in democracy — petitions, lobbying, public protests, civil disobedience — to say this law is wrong at its core, and it must be immediately repealed,” said the Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, the executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality. |
| During public gatherings across the state government complex, supporters of the law, which many people refer to as House Bill 2, outnumbered critics. At one rally, after church buses ferried supporters from places like Thomasville and Rural Hall, thousands of people, many of them in lawn chairs, heard speaker after speaker praise the measure. | During public gatherings across the state government complex, supporters of the law, which many people refer to as House Bill 2, outnumbered critics. At one rally, after church buses ferried supporters from places like Thomasville and Rural Hall, thousands of people, many of them in lawn chairs, heard speaker after speaker praise the measure. |
| “I suggest, to the chagrin of many that believe otherwise: to resist any appeal of H.B. 2 is to show love,” the Rev. Mark H. Creech, the executive director of the Christian Action League, said at the rally, which had the feel of a revival meeting. “It is a tough love. Nonetheless, the struggle to support the measure is a proper application of loving the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul and your mind.” | “I suggest, to the chagrin of many that believe otherwise: to resist any appeal of H.B. 2 is to show love,” the Rev. Mark H. Creech, the executive director of the Christian Action League, said at the rally, which had the feel of a revival meeting. “It is a tough love. Nonetheless, the struggle to support the measure is a proper application of loving the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul and your mind.” |
| The battle about the law, approved during a one-day special session last month, is poised to ripple throughout the so-called short session, which often deals with the budget. | The battle about the law, approved during a one-day special session last month, is poised to ripple throughout the so-called short session, which often deals with the budget. |
| Democrats have moved to repeal the law. With the repeal proposal widely expected to fail, critics of the law argued Monday that the existing statute is more far-reaching than its supporters like to acknowledge, in part because it blocks local governments from enforcing policies like anti-discrimination and minimum-wage ordinances. | Democrats have moved to repeal the law. With the repeal proposal widely expected to fail, critics of the law argued Monday that the existing statute is more far-reaching than its supporters like to acknowledge, in part because it blocks local governments from enforcing policies like anti-discrimination and minimum-wage ordinances. |
| “They want you to call this a bathroom bill,” said the Rev. William J. Barber II, the president of the North Carolina N.A.A.C.P. and a leader of Monday’s protests against the law. “It’s not a bathroom bill, but there’s a lot of stuff in here that ought to be thrown in the outhouse,” | |
| Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican who is seeking re-election this year, urged legislators to change the part of the law limiting where discrimination claims can be filed. It is unclear whether lawmakers will heed Mr. McCrory’s recommendation. | Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican who is seeking re-election this year, urged legislators to change the part of the law limiting where discrimination claims can be filed. It is unclear whether lawmakers will heed Mr. McCrory’s recommendation. |
| Republican leaders have framed the law’s preservation as a matter of public safety. Critics, the governor and his supporters contend, are political opportunists who have misconstrued the law. | Republican leaders have framed the law’s preservation as a matter of public safety. Critics, the governor and his supporters contend, are political opportunists who have misconstrued the law. |
| “Our values are not shaped by the N.B.A. or Bruce Springsteen or some opinion poll,” state Representative Phil Shepard, a Republican and a Baptist minister, said, referring to some of the bill’s critics. “We’re standing strong.” | “Our values are not shaped by the N.B.A. or Bruce Springsteen or some opinion poll,” state Representative Phil Shepard, a Republican and a Baptist minister, said, referring to some of the bill’s critics. “We’re standing strong.” |
| Another Republican legislator, state Representative Dan Bishop, described the outcry as “a dishonest, media-fueled carpet-bombing.” | Another Republican legislator, state Representative Dan Bishop, described the outcry as “a dishonest, media-fueled carpet-bombing.” |
| But legislators were still left to reckon with a law that led companies including PayPal and Deutsche Bank to abandon or pause plans to add jobs in North Carolina, and prompted the Obama administration to weigh whether the state will remain eligible for billions of dollars in federal aid. | But legislators were still left to reckon with a law that led companies including PayPal and Deutsche Bank to abandon or pause plans to add jobs in North Carolina, and prompted the Obama administration to weigh whether the state will remain eligible for billions of dollars in federal aid. |
| Many of the law’s opponents fear that North Carolina’s reputation has already been tarnished, perhaps irrevocably. On Friday, in a development that did not go unnoticed here, the law was even a subject during President Obama’s news conference with Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain. | Many of the law’s opponents fear that North Carolina’s reputation has already been tarnished, perhaps irrevocably. On Friday, in a development that did not go unnoticed here, the law was even a subject during President Obama’s news conference with Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain. |
| “I can’t get over the fact that the president and the prime minister were talking about us in an international news conference where they were talking about the fate of the European Union and some other major issues,” said state Representative Darren G. Jackson, a Democrat and an architect of the repeal effort. “That’s not what I want to project for the state of North Carolina.” | “I can’t get over the fact that the president and the prime minister were talking about us in an international news conference where they were talking about the fate of the European Union and some other major issues,” said state Representative Darren G. Jackson, a Democrat and an architect of the repeal effort. “That’s not what I want to project for the state of North Carolina.” |
| And so critics renewed their vows for a long campaign of resistance to the law, already the subject of a legal challenge, in a broadening of the Moral Monday movement that has shadowed the Republican-dominated Legislature in recent years. | And so critics renewed their vows for a long campaign of resistance to the law, already the subject of a legal challenge, in a broadening of the Moral Monday movement that has shadowed the Republican-dominated Legislature in recent years. |
| “The religious right has always been there, but it just seems we’re living in a context now, in the national political discussion, where hateful bigotry is allowed to stand loud and proud in public,” Barbara Zelter said while she considered whether she would stay long enough to be arrested at a sit-in later Monday, when 54 protesters were arrested after chanting inside the General Assembly’s building. | |
| Ms. Zelter, 66, conceded that her display of outrage was unlikely to produce quick results. | Ms. Zelter, 66, conceded that her display of outrage was unlikely to produce quick results. |
| “How social movements change things,” she said, “is by changing the wind, changing the culture.” | “How social movements change things,” she said, “is by changing the wind, changing the culture.” |