North Carolina Gov. McCrory responds to 'bathroom bill' backlash

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NC governor responds to 'bathroom bill' backlash

Gov. Pat McCrory goes on 'The Kelly File' to defend legislation critics say discriminates against the LGBT community

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory responded to the backlash stemming from the so-called “bathroom bill” on “The Kelly File” Thursday night.

The bill essentially prevents cities and counties in the state from passing their own anti-discrimination rules. However, McCrory has been criticized over the language in the bill that bars transgender people to use the rest room aligned with their gender identity.

McCrory said his main focus in signing the law was his concerns for children’s privacy.

“Respect for privacy that individuals have – especially our youth have when they go into a locker room to shower or restroom,” he said he was concerned about. “They expect only people of their gender to be there in that shower, locker room or rest room.”

McCrory continued saying that it doesn’t make sense to change the rules that have been set for years and said that it should be left for schools to make special accommodations for those with “unique gender identification issues.”

“It’s the basic expectation of privacy that I hear from moms and dads and families that when their daughter or son goes into a facility, they expect people of that gender or biological sex to be the only other ones in (there). That’s the expectations we’ve had for many, many years,” he added.

Several companies and musical acts have pulled out of the state or stopped performing in the state. McCrory took special exception to PayPal.

“The selective hypocrisy is outrageous by PayPal when they’re doing business in Singapore when you can get arrested for chewing gum in public.”

McCrory warned businesses about getting into politics and called their outage at the state’s law “inconsistent.”

“They might need to examine their own practices in other states which have the exact same rules North Carolina does,” he added. “Over 21 other states have exact same rules North Carolina does.”