Hundreds of Christians in North Carolina staged a rally on Monday to support the decision of their lawmakers, backed up by their governor, to pass a bathroom privacy law, overturning an ordinance in Charlotte that would have allowed transgender individuals to use bathrooms of the opposite sex.
Members of various social conservative groups, including the Christian Action League of North Carolina, gathered on the grounds of the old Capitol building in Raleigh to affirm their rights to privacy, which they said would have been violated if the bathroom ordinance took effect.
North Carolina state lawmakers recently passed House Bill 2 repealing an ordinance in Charlotte giving transgender people access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers meant for those belonging to the opposite sex. The bill was quickly signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory.
"The basic expectation of privacy in the most personal of settings, a restroom or locker room, for each gender was violated by government overreach and intrusion by the mayor and city council of Charlotte," McCrory said in a statement to justify the measure, as quoted by CBN News.
Dr. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League and one of those who joined the rally hosted by the "Keep NC Safe Coalition," said McCrory and other North Carolina officials made the correct decision in overturning the controversial bathroom bill.
"The bill that passed and the one the governor signed, H.B. 2, overturned an egregious Charlotte ordinance and restored basic expectations of privacy people have when using the restroom," Creech also told CBN News.
"The bill also provides that private businesses can make their own decisions regarding accommodations and services and not be forced by a city ordinance to do certain things that could be detrimental to their business," he added.
Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr., a nationally known African-American Pentecostal minister and social conservative activist and commentator, meanwhile dismissed claims by some lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups that their members will be discriminated against because of the recently enacted law in North Carolina.
"This is not an issue of discrimination; this is really protecting the rights of women and under-aged girls, and I think it's a significant day for us to take a stand," Jackson said.
