The anti-LGBT law in North Carolina barring transgender people from using certain restrooms consistent with their gender identity will cost the state $3.76 billion as a result of economic boycott over the course of a dozen years, an Associated Press analysis has found.
North Carolina’s House Bill 2, which has been on the books exactly one year as of Thursday, will the cost the state $3.76 billion after Gov. Pat McCrory signed it into law as result of the cancellation of business expansions, performers nixing events and visitors boycotting the state.
The AP unveils its analysis after the NCAA has North Carolina that it won’t place championship games in the state through 2022 if HB2 remains on the books, which would be a major economic blow for the state.
Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality North Carolina, said in a statement the AP analysis demonstrates HB2 has caused continued harm to the economic climate in North Carolina.
“Before I was an advocate, I worked in economic development, and I find this number is extraordinary,” Sgro said. “This number is extraordinary not just because it represents billions in economic harm, but because we know underneath there is an untold story of incredible damage that North Carolinians will suffer for decades to come if we don’t fully repeal HB2. It is frustrating, and must be infuriating to North Carolinians, that Phil Berger and Tim Moore cannot put aside their political egos and instead insist on inflicting this kind of harm on their constituents.”
HB2 bars municipalities in North Carolina from enacting pro-LGBT non-discrimination, undoing a recently enacted ordinance in Charlotte, and bars transgender people from using the restroom in schools and government buildings consistent with their gender identity.
Despite efforts from LGBT advocates and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper to repeal the law, the Republican-controlled state legislature has refused to act and alternative proposals have been shot down by either side. One proposal Republicans leaders floated last week was a “religious freedom” bill. Much like similar measures that ignited firestorms in Arizona and Indiana, the bill would allow Indiana residents a judicial right action if they feel state and local governments are infringing on their religious liberties.
According to the AP, HB2’s supporters say its costs are insignificant compared for an economy valued at more than $500 billion a year. Defenders of the anti-LGBT reportedly say they’re fine with costs if the law prevents sexual predators posing as transgender people from entering private spaces to molest women and girls — a threat thoroughly debunked as non-existent based on the history of other jurisdictions that have non-discrimination laws and have experienced no problems.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement the time has come for North Carolina to repeal House Bill 2 to end the economic hardship facing the state.
“In light of the AP’s jaw-dropping new economic analysis, every North Carolina lawmaker should have to answer a simple question: Is discrimination worth nearly $4 billion dollars?” Griffin said. “In addition to the personal suffering this bill has caused LGBTQ people over the last year, it has already inflicted incredible damage upon the state’s economy. It’s time for lawmakers to fully repeal HB2 once and for all, because the price of their inaction is simply too great.”
