NC Gov. Pat McCrory Doubles Down on Anti-LGBT Bathroom Bill, Talks Lawsuit Against Feds – WATCH

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory held a news conference on Monday to address his lawsuit against the federal government over the state’s anti-LGBT bathroom bill, HB 2.

As we have reported, the Department of Justice last week issued an order to North Carolina demanding it stop enforcing HB 2 because it violates Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. The DOJ gave McCrory until today to respond its order. On Monday, McCrory said he would not accept the DOJ’s order and would file suit.

During his news conference — which involved no questions from the media — McCrory again regurgitated the trans predator myth as a justification for enacting HB 2. He also once again blamed the Charlotte City Council for passing LGBT rights protections, a move McCrory said necessitated a response from the legislature.

McCrory blasted the federal government for giving his office a “mere three business days” to respond to its order. Notably, HB 2 was introduced, debated, and passed by state legislators in just one day.

McCrory made an unexpected announcement saying he wants the U.S. Congress to take action to “bring clarity” on anti-discrimination laws across the nation.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest responded to McCrory’s news conference just moments after it happened, saying, “What the North Carolina government has done is inconsistent with the people of North Carolina and the economy of North Carolina.”

HRC President Chad Griffin blasted McCrory for doubling down on his opposition to equal rights.

.@PatMcCroryNC still lying about #HB2 and displaying just how little he understands our nation’s civil rights laws.

— Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) May 9, 2016

Watch the speech, below.

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WATCH LIVE: NC Gov. Pat McCrory Holds News Conference on Bathroom Bill Lawsuit Against Feds

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory is set to hold a news conference today at 1 PM EST to address his lawsuit against the federal government over the state’s anti-LGBT bathroom bill, HB 2.

As we reported earlier, McCrory filed the suit after the Department of Justice ordered North Carolina to stop enforcing the bill. The DOJ’s order declared that HB 2 violates Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. The Department gave McCrory until today to respond.

Said McCrory earlier on Monday, “The Obama administration is bypassing Congress by attempting to rewrite the law and set restroom policies for public and private employers across the country, not just North Carolina. This is now a national issue that applies to every state and it needs to be resolved at the federal level.”

Watch McCrory’s press conference LIVE, below.

Here is another live stream from local news station WRAL.

UPDATE: This live stream now covers the speech McCrory gave on Monday. Watch below.

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From Russia with News: Pussy Riot Founder Is Rocking the Internet (Video)

www.advocate.com/world/2016/5/09/russia-news-pussy-riot-founder-rocking-internet-video

Pennsylvania Catholic School Bans Girl from Prom Because She Wore A Suit (Video)

www.advocate.com/youth/2016/5/09/pennsylvania-catholic-school-bans-girl-prom-because-she-wore-suit-video

Pat McCrory Sues Obama Administration Over Anti-Trans Law

North Carolina faced the loss of billions of federal money for its bathroom law.

www.advocate.com/politics/2016/5/09/pat-mccrory-sues-obama-administration-over-anti-trans-law

Pat McCrory Calls Feds “Bullies” For Attacking His Pro-Discrimination Law, Files Hopeless Lawsuit

Gov. Pat McCrory told Chris Wallace at Fox News Sunday that the federal government was being “a bully” by declaring his discrimination law violates the Civil Rights Act.

“It’s the federal government being a — a bully!” McCrory whined. “It’s making law.”

Related: Pat McCrory Realizes Being Anti-Trans Could Cost Him Job As N.C. Governor

He was, of course, referring to the letter he received last week from the Justice Department explaining that the law he signed back in March, which banned all nondiscrimination laws statewide and dictated which bathrooms trans people were legally allowed to use, was unconstitutional.

In the letter, the feds gave McCrory an ultimatum: Repeal the law or lose millions (and potentially billions) in federal money.

“So now the federal government is going to tell almost every private sector company in the United States who can and who cannot come into their bathrooms, their restrooms, their shower facilities for their employees, and they’re also telling every university in the United States of America?” McCrory said.

On the contrary, McCrory is the one trying to police who can and cannot use bathrooms. And the Feds are the ones telling him he can’t do that.

Related: NC’s Bathroom Bill Violates Civil Rights Act According To DOJ Letter

In true Republican form, McCrory also took a swing at President Obama, accusing him of “changing tradition.”

“This is a basic change of norms that we’ve used for decades throughout the United States of America and the Obama administration is now trying to change that norm,” the governor said.

But rather than obey the constitution of the United States of America as the Justice Department is demanding he do, McCrory has decided to spend taxpayer money fighting it out in court.

This morning, the state of North Carolina filed a lawsuit against the federal government for what it calls “baseless and blatant overreach.” The lawsuit also accuses the justice department’s top civil rights lawyer, Vanita Gupta, and U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch of enforcing a “radical reinterpretation” of federal civil rights law.

Because demanding that all citizens be treated equally and fairly is super radical.

Related: Watch North Carolina’s “Official” Bathroom Police Training Video

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Oklahoma LGBT Group Bids Farewell to Anti-Gay Bigot Sally Kern With Fundraiser

Republican Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern, who’s among the nation’s most outspoken anti-gay bigots, will leave office at the end of the year due to term limits.

And Freedom Oklahoma, the statewide LGBT group, plans to celebrate Kern’s departure — as well as the defeat of anti-equality legislation in this year’s session — with a $35-a-ticket fundraiser later this month. From the Facebook event page:

On Tuesday, May 24th, Freedom Oklahoma will be sending Sally Kern off in style as we celebrate the end of her term in Oklahoma State House. Without lawmakers like her bringing so much attention to LGBTQ inequality, we would not be where we are today.

As you know, Oklahoma could have easily gone down the path of North Carolina and Mississippi, but for Freedom Oklahoma. After the onslaught of 27 anti-LGBTQ bills faced in January, we made it through the legislative session without a single one becoming law. It took an unprecedented effort at the Capitol to defeat so much hate, but we were victorious!

Now, we have the opportunity to take the next step in securing protections for our community. We are saying goodbye to over 20 members of the Oklahoma legislature this term – including Rep. Sally Kern, and we need to find allies to replace them.

Kern became a national figure in the anti-LGBT movement in 2008, when she said “the homosexual agenda” poses a greater threat to the US than terrorism — a claim she has repeated several times over the years, including in her 2011 book, “The Stoning of Sally Kern.”

Although Kern has faded somewhat from the anti-gay limelight in recent years, her bigotry has continued unabated. In this year’s legislative session, for example, she introduced legislation — dubbed by opponents an “LGBT suicide bill”  — that effectively would have required school officials to out gay youth to their parents. And last year, she introduced bills to undermine the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage and to allow businesses to turn away gay couples.

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ACLU Sues Mississippi Over Anti-LGBT Religious Freedom Law, HB 1523

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit challenging Mississippi’s anti-LGBT ‘right to discriminate’ bill, HB 1523.

Called one of the worst religious freedom bills to date in the U.S., HB 1523 (also known as the “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act”) cuts out broad exemptions for individuals and businesses with “sincerely held religious belief or moral convictions” that marriage “should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman” to refuse service to LGBT people. The ACLU argues that HB 1523 directly contradicts the Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges by targeting LGBT people.

Via a press release from the ACLU:

The lawsuit, which targets the registrar of vital records, was filed on behalf of ACLU of Mississippi members and Nykolas Alford and Stephen Thomas, a gay couple who are engaged to be married and face discrimination as a result of this law.

Plaintiffs Nykolas Alford and Stephen Thomas have been engaged for nearly two years. They describe the law, HB 1523, as “a slap in the face.”

“When HB 1523 passed, it was heartbreaking because it takes away our chance to finally be treated equally. At a time when we’re supposed to be excited as a couple engaged to be married, this law permits discrimination against us simply because of who we are. This is not the Mississippi we’re proud to call home. We’re hopeful others will come to realize this and not allow this harmful measure to become law,” they said.

ACLU Staff Attorney Josh Block said,

“We’re stepping up to fight this sweeping anti-LGBT and unconstitutional law that authorizes discrimination against gay and transgender people. HB 1523 has no rightful place in Mississippi or in our history books, and we’re hopeful this lawsuit can stop as much of it as possible before it goes into effect. We won’t rest until every last piece of this law is struck down and all LGBT people in Mississippi have equal justice under the law.”

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Fort McMurray Wildfire, Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, P!nk, Photobomb, Gay Cake: NEWS

GOP DISCORD. Donald Trump refuses to rule out effort to remove Paul Ryan as Convention Chairman: “Mr. Trump stopped short of calling for Mr. Ryan, the speaker of the House, to step down from his convention role. But in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mr. Trump said there could be consequences in the event that Mr. Ryan continued withholding his support. ‘I will give you a very solid answer, if that happens, about one minute after that happens, O.K.?’ Mr. Trump said. ‘There’s no reason to give it right now, but I’ll be very quick with the answer.’”

RELIGION. Evangelicals feel abandoned by the Republican Party: “Fuller and other conservatives whose voting decisions are guided by their Christian faith find themselves dismayed and adrift now that Trump has wrested control of the Republican Party. It is a sentiment that reaches from the small, aluminum-sided church with a large white cross on its front that Fuller and his wife built on the Nebraska plains to the highest levels of American religious life. Even progressive Christians — evangelicals and Catholics, among others — who don’t necessarily vote Republican are alarmed that Trump is attracting many voters who call themselves religious. A coalition of nearly 60 Christian leaders — many progressive and some conservative — published an open letter last week asking voters of faith to reject Trump and his ‘vulgar racial and religious demagoguery,’ warning that the nation faces a ‘moral threat’ from the candidate.”

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE DAY. P!nk’s “Just Like Fire”:

LAWBREAKERS. Video game protests North Carolina’s HB 2 with gender neutral bathrooms: “LawBreakers is set in 2105, at a time when global war has erupted between the criminal elements of society and a unified organization of peacekeepers. It’s a grim future, sure, but still progressive enough to have done away with exclusionary practices like the ‘bathroom bill.’”

Gender neutral bathrooms in our new game, @PatMcCroryNC. It takes place in the future, unlike the past you envision. pic.twitter.com/OPfXFyuZ7o

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) May 6, 2016

CANADA. Alberta wildfire spread slows: “Firefighters have held key areas and the blaze now covers about 621 sq miles (1,610 sq km) – less than the 700 sq miles estimated on Saturday. But it could be months before the fire is fully brought under control. More than 100,000 residents of Fort McMurray have fled the blaze. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said has spoken of ‘very difficult conditions’.

OOPS. Meteorologist forgets that Fort McMurray is on fire, says people there are going to “brag about the heat.”

RANDY BERRY. U.S. Envoy for LGBTI Rights speaks out in new interview: “The greatest single global challenge is one of ignorance, which is daunting. But ignorance can be addressed through education and visibility and awareness. So I think it’s important to start out from a basis of making sure that our interlocutors understand that we are talking about an issue of identity, because so often it is perceived that what we’re talking about is ascribing human rights values to a behavior, which is not the discussion at all.”

IRELAND. Appeal to be heard in gay cake case: “Daniel McArthur, 26, Ashers’ general manager said they hoped it would be their last court appearance He said: ‘The County Court judgment was disappointing but we’re hoping and praying that these judges will recognise what’s at stake and decide to protect our freedom to express our Christian beliefs.’”

PHOTOBOMB OF THE DAY. One man’s documentation of the demolition of a block of flats in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday didn’t quite go as planned:

MONDAY MUSCLE. Titanius Maximus.

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