NCAA satisfied with North Carolina 'bathroom bill' replacement

The National Collegiate Athletic Association appears to be satisfied with North Carolina's semi-repeal of its so-called bathroom bill, and is prepared to hold tournaments in the state once more.

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The group charged with organizing college basketball championships nationally pulled seven tournament events from the Tar Heel state last summer, citing the 2016 law known as HB2 that banned people from using bathrooms that didn’t match the sex indicated on their birth certificates.

Critics had called the law "anti-LGBT.”

In a statement today, NCAA officials said the bill signed by the governor last week "has minimally achieved a situation where we believe NCAA championships may be conducted in a nondiscriminatory environment."

Critics of the new bill, however, have said that it doesn't go far enough to protect LGBTQ North Carolinians and tourists. At its essence, the new bill -- reached as a compromise between conservatives and progressives in state government -- repeals HB2, but it still bars local governments, schools and other institutions from regulating who can use showers, changing areas and multi-stall bathrooms. Use of such facilities is still the prerogative of the state legislature.

The new bill does not specifically address which bathrooms transgender people are to use. As the Charlotte Observer's editorial board points out, the compromise bill “dodges the whole bathroom question.”

It also prevents local governments from instituting nondiscrimination laws until December of 2020.

"If you vote for this bill you are not a friend of the LGBTQ community," Equality North Carolina executive director Chris Sgro told reporters last week.

Added Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin: "At its core, it's a statewide prohibition on equality."

But the NCAA said a majority of its board of governors "reluctantly voted" to allow the state to be considered for hosting future championship games. It also said championship games that it had previously awarded to North Carolina for the 2017-2018 season would "remain in the state."

"If we find that our expectations of a discrimination-free environment are not met, we will not hesitate to take necessary action at any time," the sports organization said.

Reacting to the NCAA's announcement, Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, issued a statement saying, "While more work remains to be done, it’s good news that the NCAA will be returning to North Carolina."

"We will continue our work with them to fight for statewide antidiscrimination protections for LGBT North Carolinians," he added.

The law, passed in March 2016 and formally known as "The Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act," mandated that state law would overrule any local ordinances related to employment, wages and public accommodations. In effect, it prevented governments at the municipal level from establishing their own ordinances barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodation and housing, most controversially in public bathrooms.

Explained: NC's bathroom bill

The bill kicked off a furor that garnered nationwide attention. LGBT activists and Democrats argued that the bill was discriminatory and was an intrusion on the rights of local governments.

Republicans in the state backed the bill after the city of Charlotte approved an ordinance that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In testimony before the state Senate last year, North Carolina Family Policy Council President John Rustin said that the Charlotte ordinance meant that "men could enter women's restrooms and locker rooms -- placing the privacy, safety, and dignity of women and the elderly at great risk."

Over the course of a year, amid a heated presidential and gubernatorial election campaign, pressure mounted on North Carolina officials to repeal or modify HB2.

The NCAA, Atlantic Coast Conference and NBA all pulled events from the state, effectively starving North Carolina of precious revenue that the events would generate. Meanwhile, several companies, including PayPal, scrapped plans to invest in the state, while many celebrities canceled concerts or other appearances.