Three North Carolina Democrats filed legislation in the state Senate on Wednesday that would repeal the controversial bathroom bill that has kept transgender rights at the forefront of the news for nearly a full year.
Senate Bill 25 — sponsored by Democratic Sens. Jeff Jackson, Bryant and Floyd McKissick — would repeal House Bill 2, which requires transgender people to use the bathroom that corresponds with their birth gender, not their gender identity.
HB2 was passed in March 2016, and was a response to a nondiscrimination ordinance passed by local lawmakers in Charlotte that allowed for bathroom use based on gender identity.
The Charlotte City Council then repealed the ordinance in December as part of a deal to have HB2 repealed statewide by the General Assembly, but the deal fell apart before Christmas, and HB2 is still law in the state.
There is no indication if the new repeal bill will actually make it the Senate floor, but President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, a Republican, said a compromise is still possible on HB2.
“I think it’s possible for there to be some arrangement to address that issue,” Berger said on the Senate floor last week. “I think it’s going to take compromise on both sides.”
HB2 was signed by former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican who was defeated by Democrat Roy Cooper in November.
