North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Tuesday said new LGBT protections would be coming to his state via an executive order.
“I’m going to issue an executive order pretty soon that is comprehensive, that helps with LGBT protections and we’re going to keep working every day,” the Democratic governor said in remarks to the Center for American Progress’ Ideas Conference in Washington, D.C.
Cooper also elaborated on his decision to accept the compromise repeal of House Bill 2 this year, which was the controversial bill that mandated transgender individuals use the bathroom facility corresponding with their birth gender. North Carolina’s HB2 sent transgender rights into the national spotlight last year, where they have remained even with the compromise repeal signed by Cooper in March.
“It would have been politically and probably emotionally easier for me to keep pounding the table and not accept a compromise but I knew it wasn’t right,” Cooper said. “I knew it wasn’t right for the LGBT citizens in my state.”
He added that he wanted a clean repeal without a compromise, but knew the difficulty he was facing in getting one with North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature.
“I had a choice. Do I continue to make a statement and pound the table and nothing happen? Or do I take a positive step, make progress and continue to fight?” he said. “I chose the latter for my state because we got rid of the birth certificate requirement. We opened up the ability of local governments to provide some protections now and some in the future.”
No further details were given on Cooper’s planned executive order.
Cooper’s comments come on the heels of March’s compromise legislature that nixed local anti-discrimination ordinances including one in Charlotte, which became the basis for HB2. LGBT groups have said the legislation still allows for discrimination.
