North Carolina rolls back ‘bathroom bill’ despite criticism

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina rolled back its “bathroom bill” Thursday in a bid to end the yearlong backlash over transgender rights that has cost the state dearly in business projects, conventions and basketball tournaments.

The compromise plan, announced Wednesday night by the Democratic governor and leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature, was worked out under mounting pressure from the NCAA, which threatened to take away more sporting events from the basketball-obsessed state as long as the law, also known as House Bill 2, remained on the books.

Among other things, it repeals the best-known section of HB2: a requirement that transgender people use the public restrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate.

The American Civil Liberties Union and gay rights activists complained that the new law still denies gay and transgender people certain protections from discrimination, and they demanded nothing less than full repeal.

While the new measure eliminates the rule on transgender bathroom use, it also makes clear that state legislators — not local government or school officials — are in charge of policy on public restrooms.