The White House is mulling whether and how to respond to a new North Carolina law that would limit the ability of LGBT people to use the restroom and other public accommodations of their choice.
The new law, approved by the GOP legislature and Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, was a response to Charlotte’s rules that allowed LGBT people to use public restrooms that fit their gender identity, and thus allow males to use women’s restrooms if they identify as women, and vice-versa. The law requires government agencies to require people who use multi-stall public restrooms to use the one that corresponds with their biological sex.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said there are both “policy and legal questions” raised by the North Carolina law, although the federal government has yet to determine how or whether to respond to it.
“There are a number of government agencies that are thinking through those questions now and taking a look at what impact it may have on existing law,” he said after reaffirming the administration’s commitment to defending and promoting the equal rights of all Americans, including LGBT Americans.
“Our commitment to that principle, that people shouldn’t be discriminated against just because who they love, is one worth fighting for, and this president will continue to speak out in support of those equal rights,” he said. “That’s part and parcel of what it means [to live] in the greatest country in the world.”
Earnest didn’t elaborate on exactly what steps executive government agencies are considering in response to the state law, and urged reporters to contact individual departments instead.
The comments come after the CEO of PepsiCo, Inc. joined a growing list of company heads, including Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Qualcomm and EMC Corp., and municipal officials in opposing to the North Carolina law. On Friday, the venture capital arm of Google’s parent company said it wouldn’t invest in North Carolina startup businesses while the law is on the books.
Earnest also waded into the business-side of the debate, by saying that “it’s not surprising to me that there are a number of significant business entities who have come out to express their concerns about this law.”
“North Carolina has an economy that has benefited significantly from what officials in the state proudly describe as a hospitable business environment,” he said. “Passage of laws like this do not create a hospitable business environment, particularly if businesses are concerned that either their employees or customers are not going to be treated fairly by the state or are going to be singled out by the state.”
