A Christian legal agency has offered its services to North Carolina free of charge after the state's own attorney general refused to do his job — defend the state's new law that bars transgender men from entering women's public bathrooms, showers and locker rooms.
The law, the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, was passed by an overwhelming majority of the North Carolina Legislature last week and was signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory. It was enacted after the city of Charlotte approved an ordinance that would open women's public bathrooms to men who believe they are women. This ordinance became null and void since the new state law superseded it, WND reported.
The law bans local governments from passing "anti-discrimination" ordinances and requires transgender people to use the public restrooms that align with their biological gender.
Mathew Staver, founder and chair of Liberty Counsel, said his Florida-based public interest legal agency is willing to defend North Carolina after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the state on behalf of two transgender people and a lesbian professor.
Staver made the offer on Thursday after North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced that he will not be defending the law, which he called "a national embarrassment."
Responding to Cooper's statement, Staver told WND that the national embarrassment is the attorney general, not the law. "Does Mr. Cooper really, honestly, want to open up women's public bathrooms and showers to men and put the privacy of women and young girls at risk? Is that really what he wants?" he asked.
Staver said Cooper's refusal to do his mandated job is unethical and grounds for impeachment.
"This attorney general is elected by the people to defend the laws of North Carolina. He has an obligation to do so, and if he cannot do that for any reason he needs to hire outside counsel or have someone else in his office do the work," Staver told WND.
Staver said a private attorney could never get away with such blatantly unethical behavior.
Cooper, a Democrat, is running against McCrory for governor in the November general election.
North Carolina's new law has come under heavy fire from so-called "bathroom bullies"—Democrats nationwide, including President Obama, and the corporate allies of the LGBT-rights movement. These allies include professional sports leagues, the Hollywood film industry and other major corporations.
McCrory called the orchestrated attacks a "vicious nationwide smear campaign."
The governor also slammed Cooper. "The attorney general is inventing conflict that simply does not exist. When you are a state's lawyer you are a lawyer first and a politician second," McCrory said.
