North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory defended his decision to sign his state's House Bill 2 in a heated "The Kelly File" interview Thursday, arguing that the anti-LGBT law was created out of "respect for privacy."
McCrory told host Megyn Kelly he felt media outlets like The New York Times and The Huffington Post had misconstrued the aim of the so-called "bathroom bill."
"I do not want government to be able to tell private businesses what their bathroom policies should be. I have no desire to be the bathroom police for private business," he said in the interview, which can be viewed above. Instead, he added, the bill represents "an expectation of privacy that individuals have, especially our youth have, when they go into a locker room, a shower or a restroom. They expect only people of their gender to be there."
Kelly didn't let McCrory off that easy, however, and noted that women's restrooms "don't have the urinal situation" that men's restrooms do, and because of that, women were less likely to expose themselves or see someone else exposed when using the facilities.
Arguing that he "empathizes with" the transgender community, McCrory skirted around Kelly's suggestion that the law somehow built on the perception of trans people as rapists and child molesters.
He replied that "special arrangements" should be made for those with "unique gender identification issues," especially in schools.
He shrugged off PayPal and other businesses that have opted against expanding in North Carolina because of the new law as "inconsistent outrage." As for Bruce Springsteen citing House Bill 2 in his decision to cancel a concert in the state, McCrory said the move may have hurt the rock singer's fans, but failed to make a large-scale impact.
"The selective hypocrisy is outrageous," he said.
Sorry, Pat, you're gonna have to try a little harder to justify this move.
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