LGBT law spurs demonstrations

Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C.

Demonstrations encircled North Carolina’s statehouse Monday, for and against a Republican-backed law curtailing protections for LGBT people and limiting public-bathroom access for transgender people, and House Democrats filed a repeal bill that stands little chance of passing.

Thousands of Christian conservatives and other supporters of the law known as House Bill 2 gathered on a grassy mall behind the Legislative Building on the opening day of the legislature to praise the mostly Republican legislators and GOP Gov. Pat McCrory for passing the restrictions during a special session last month.

The law blocks local and state protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and directs which restrooms transgender people can use in public buildings.

Key lawmakers who pushed through the legislation urged the rally attendees to contact colleagues and urge them to fight off efforts to overturn the law.

Meanwhile, dozens of protesters took turns sitting outside the offices of the General Assembly’s top leaders to demand the repeal of the law Monday.

Earlier Monday, about 200 people gathered on the grounds of the old Capitol building to hear speakers denounce the law. They carried cardboard boxes holding what they said were 180,000 pro-repeal signatures on a petition for delivery to McCrory.