Mississippi’s ‘HB2 law’ falls, NC’s should be next

No great shock seemed to follow a federal judge’s ruling that stopped implementation of a Mississippi law that rivaled North Carolina’s HB2 for unconstitutional hubris.

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves found the law – which allowed people to refuse services to people citing their personal religious beliefs, meaning a baker could refuse to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, or counselors could deny services to a same-sex couple – “does not honor the tradition of religious freedom, nor does it respect the equal dignity of all of Mississippi’s citizens.”

Reeves stopped the law from going into effect on schedule last week. He saw unconstitutional discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The law also imposed restrictions on dress and bathroom access for transgender people.

The reason, of course, that opponents of this ridiculous law weren’t stunned by their victory is that it was clearly unconstitutional. Likely proponents knew that as well when they passed it, but they were making a political statement they figured would please constituents. Who cares if it stands up against the United States Constitution?

The Mississippi law, of course, is similar to North Carolina’s now-infamous HB2. And HB2 will likely find a similar fate in federal courts — after, of course, Republicans in the General Assembly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on outside attorneys to defend the indefensible.

As last week drew to a close, there were meetings between Gov. Pat McCrory and leaders of both parties. The governor, who’s essentially ignored by his fellow Republicans who run the circus on Jones Street, apparently was seeking some kind of compromise on HB2, perhaps a minor change in this disgraceful law, that could stop the bleeding. Thousands of potential jobs have been lost, millions of dollars in conventions and conferences and concerts are gone, and the National Basketball Association seems likely to move the 2017 All-Star Game and its tens of millions of dollars in economic benefit out of Charlotte.

At one point, perhaps under pressure from Charlotte’s business community, it appeared the NBA might be willing to stay the course if a change of some sort were made to HB2, but then league officials seemed to stiffen their backbones. And meanwhile, legislative leaders were flirting with some kind of change but clearly really didn’t want to do anything, which is likely to be the outcome of all the jawboning.

The reason is that the only thing that will “fix” HB2 is repeal.

This story was originally published July 4, 2016 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Mississippi’s ‘HB2 law’ falls, NC’s should be next."