Battle over bathrooms looms large in
North Carolina governor's race
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[November 04, 2016]
By Colleen Jenkins
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - In a year
of police shooting protests, historic hurricane flooding and voting
rights clashes in North Carolina, it is the battle over bathrooms that
could prove pivotal in the Tar Heel state's gubernatorial race.
The election will effectively serve as a referendum on a state law that
bans transgender people from using government-run restrooms that match
their gender identity and limits protections for gays and lesbians.
Signed by Republican Governor Pat McCrory in March, the law has been
blamed for hundreds of millions of dollars in economic losses and the
relocation of major sporting events from the ninth largest U.S. state.
Opponents of the law say the vote on Tuesday also could have national
implications. If McCrory loses to Democratic challenger Roy Cooper, they
said, elected officials backing such measures in other states will face
greater political risk.
"I believe a strong message already has been sent to lawmakers across
the country," said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign,
the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer
(LGBTQ) civil rights organization.
"I believe and hope on Election Day that an even stronger message will
be sent."
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The advocacy group has joined with Equality North Carolina for a broad
effort to boost voter turnout and unseat McCrory and other supporters of
the law known as House Bill 2. The organizations are targeting about
400,000 pro-equality voters in the state, including an estimated 255,800
LGBT voters, Griffin said.
The Human Rights Campaign said that voting bloc could make a difference
in a presidential swing state where Democrat Barack Obama won by about
14,000 votes in 2008 and Republican Mitt Romney led by about 92,000
votes in 2012.
"There’s no question this is going to be a very close race at the top of
the ticket, and the LGBTQ voting bloc really has the ability to impact
the outcome of this election," said Chris Sgro, executive director of
Equality North Carolina.
RACE A TOSS-UP
Elections experts consider the race between McCrory and Cooper, one of
12 U.S. gubernatorial seats being decided on Tuesday, to be among the
country's most competitive.
Public opinion polls have been tight most of the year, though the
RealClearPolitics average of recent surveys shows Cooper with a slight
advantage.
A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll found that, among residents who expect to
vote, 38 percent were less likely to support McCrory's re-election bid
as a result of the law and its fallout, compared with 32 percent who
were more likely to support him.
The poll was conducted online in English between Oct. 6 and Oct. 19. It
included 1,233 likely voters and had a credibility interval, a measure
of accuracy, of 3 percentage points.
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![](../images/110416pics/news_b5.jpg)
A sign protesting a recent North Carolina law restricting
transgender bathroom access adorns the bathroom stalls at the 21C
Museum Hotel in Durham, North Carolina May 3, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan
Drake/File Photo
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Other polls have shown a majority of residents believe the law is
hurting the state.
McCrory, who in 2012 became North Carolina's first Republican
governor in two decades, has blamed the backlash against the law on
national groups trying to redefine gender and "basic norms of
privacy."
Cooper says the law is discriminatory, and he has made McCrory's
support for it a central issue of his campaign.
An ad campaign launched last week by the conservative NC Values
Coalition accuses Cooper, the state's attorney general since 2001,
of putting women and children at risk by refusing to defend H.B. 2.
"By not defending it, he's allowing men into women’s bathrooms," the
group's executive director, Tami Fitzgerald, said in a phone
interview. "We think that just goes too far."
"Equality NC and HRC have made North Carolina ground zero for their
radical LGBT agenda," she added. "But I believe that their efforts
will fail."
At early voting sites in North Carolina this week, the issue
appeared to be galvanizing people on both sides.
"I admire McCrory for standing behind H.B. 2," said Republican
Parker Umstead, 81, a certified public accountant who cast a ballot
in Winston-Salem for the incumbent. "It takes courage to stand up
for your beliefs."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Nov/04/images/ads/current/graue_sda_june2015.png)
But Holly Carpenter, a 41-year-old Republican from Cary who works in
the medical field, cited the measure as the prime reason why she
voted against McCrory, whom she supported in 2012.
"To lose so many economic opportunities over that was just a huge
negative for me,” she said.
(Additional reporting by Marti Maguire in Cary, North Carolina, and
Chris Kahn in New York)
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