The North Carolina Legislature voted to approve a “compromise” that seriously harms HB 2, a law that was passed to protect the privacy and safety of women and children in private spaces such as restrooms, locker rooms and changing areas.

The NCAA and other groups used bullying tactics to get the lawmakers to agree to the “deal.” The NCAA threatened to not schedule any tournaments in the state until 2022 if the law was left in place as is.

John Rustin, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council, one of Family Policy Alliance’s 40 allied groups, was disappointed, but determined.

” House Bill 2 was the strongest bathroom privacy and safety law in the nation,” he said. “We will continue to urge our state lawmakers to stand strong and resist the threats of the NCAA and others who would willingly place our state’s women and children at risk.”

The compromise also drew criticism from groups on the other side of the issue. National LGBT rights group, the Human Rights Campaign and the ACLU of North Carolina opposed it, particularly the language that prevents local communities from passing ordinances for the next four years to regulate private employment practices and businesses.

”The real tragedy today is that North Carolina legislators voted for the bullying tactics of the NCAA over the privacy and safety of their own citizens who put them in office. They’ve angered both the Right and the Left sides of their constituencies, and no doubt North Carolina voters will remember that in November 2018.”

Texas is now the only state left with a privacy bill working in the works. SB 6 passed the Senate on March 14 and is now waiting for a vote in the House. If any state can stand up to the school yard tactics, it’s Texas.

“We call on the members of the Texas House to now consider the merits of the Texas Privacy Act,” said Jonathan Saenz of Texas Values, “which respects private business while making it clear that boys do not belong in the girls’ room in our public schools.”

This past year proved to be a challenging one for North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory. The Legislature sent him a bill (HB2) that protected the privacy and safety of women and children by requiring people to use the bathroom consistent with the sex on their birth certificate. He gladly signed it, calling it “common sense.”

That’s when gay activists went to work. They lobbied big business to boycott the state. Musicians canceled concerts. The NCAA pulled games. The ACC moved a tournament. Incredible pressure was put on the governor and other elected officials to “fix” the law. Still, Gov. McCrory put North Carolina families first.

McCrory was up for reelection in November and Family Policy Alliance worked in tandem with the North Carolina Family Policy Council to get people out to vote. This week, McCrory conceded the election to his Democrat opponent, Roy Cooper.

For me, it was one of the most difficult defeats of the election cycle.

During the toughest time for the governor, we asked you to send him a digital postcard to encourage him. Ten thousand of you took us up on our offer and Gov. McCrory noticed.

Now, we’d like to ask you to join us in thanking him for standing up to the bullies and being a voice for the privacy and safety of women and children. Thank him for his service to North Carolina and his commitment to common decency.

All you have to do is visit our Action Center and fill out your information. Gov. McCrory will receive an email from you expressing gratitude and wishing him the best as he moves on to other endeavors. Nothing will remove the sting of an election loss, but we hope your thank you will make it just a little easier.

Gov. McCrory has given a lot of elected officials courage. Courage they will need to withstand pressure to make compromises and set aside their deeply held beliefs in order to appease an agenda. We are grateful for his example and want to simply say, “Thank you.” Won’t you join us?

Paul Weber
President and CEO
Family Policy Alliance

The North Carolina governor’s race hit a new snag this week. A protest was filed Wednesday alleging that fraudulent absentee ballots were cast for Democrat gubernatorial candidate Roy Cooper in Halifax county. Similar protests are being filed in 10 other counties.

According to Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign, the protest alleges a “massive scheme to run an absentee ballot mill involving hundreds of ballots, perpetrated by and through the Bladen County Improvement Association PAC.”

Russell Peck, campaign manager for McCrory, said it appears their worst fears have come true.

“This absentee ballot fraud scheme may run deeper than just Bladen County,” he said. “Unfortunately, we may also have uncovered the real reason Roy Cooper fought so hard against efforts to prevent voter fraud as attorney general.”

The ballots first came to the attention of officials when a candidate for Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor complained that hundreds of the documents appeared to have similar handwriting patterns on the signatures.

The investigation could take months to complete before the race is certified. John Rustin with the North Carolina Family Policy Council said the investigation will be a true test of the system.

“The right to vote in our country is fundamental,” he said, “and the confidence of the voters in the electoral process is essential to the proper working of our American form of government. Every legitimate vote must be counted, and any and all efforts to defraud the system must be eliminated, no matter how long it takes.”

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is threatening to pull games from North Carolina because of the passage of HB 2, the bill that protects the privacy and safety of women and children in locker rooms, restrooms and other public facilities.

We need you to contact the ACC now as they will likely make a decision tonight!

Please go to the Family Policy Alliance Action Center and urge the ACC to not pull games from the state. While you’re there, you can also send a message of support to North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory who has stood strong on the bathroom issue in the face of immense pressure.

Thank you for making your voice heard!

Signs of hope are springing up all over the country, thanks to your support for Family Policy Alliance and your network of state allies. While Washington, D.C., remains mired in gridlock, encouraging victories continue to roll in at the state level. Here are a few of your victories achieved through Family Policy Alliance.

Pushing back on gay “overreach”

While the radical agenda of the homosexual and transgender lobby has rocked the nation in recent
years, the “pushback” is gaining real steam. It started in Houston last November with the overwhelming defeat of a SOGI (Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity) special- rights ordinance—a victory in which you played a major role through your support of this ministry.

The momentum continued in Indiana this winter. The top goal of gay lobbying groups this year was to pass a SOGI special-rights law in the Hoosier state—completing their 2015 assault on religious freedom in Indiana. Top Republican legislators joined with Democrats and the media in an all-out push to pass the SOGI bill. But Family Policy Alliance reached out to thousands of Hoosiers with phone calls and emails targeting key legislators. Meanwhile, our state ally, Indiana Family Action, organized committee testimony and worked the capitol hard—resulting in a resounding defeat of the SOGI.

And in North Carolina this spring, the momentum became a trend. After the Charlotte City Council passed a SOGI ordinance, Family Policy Alliance and our state ally, North Carolina Family Policy Council, called for a special session to overturn that measure. On March 23, the legislature passed and the governor signed a law to do just that. It also stopped other localities from similar mischief that would, among other things, allow men to use women’s restrooms and locker rooms. Nebraska Family Alliance also worked this spring to stop a SOGI special-rights bill for the 16th year in a row.

The theme in all of these victories? Homosexual activists are overreaching with their radical policies, and lawmakers and the public—with the help of Family Policy Alliance—are pushing back and winning!

Our Stuart Shepard is a regular guest on Faith Radio in Alabama. On this program that aired April 15, he and Bob Crittenden discuss the name change from CitizenLink to Family Policy Alliance, the new privacy law in North Carolina, and the presidential campaign.

We thought you’d enjoy listening in on their conversation.

CitizenLink is proud to work with an alliance of nearly 40 state-based family policy councils, including the North Carolina Family Policy Council. John Rustin is the President and Executive Director of the group.

http://www.ncfamily.org/business-opposition-hb-2-hrc-orchestrated-not-organic/

The privacy and safety of women and children protected

North Carolina lawmakers are protecting the privacy and safety of women and children. They unanimously passed a bill that would prevent men from entering women’s restrooms, locker rooms and showers. The governor has already signed it into law.

This is good news for North Carolina families – and all families – but the need to protect women and children doesn’t stop here. CitizenLink and our family policy alliance are working hard in legislatures across the nation to safeguard families – including yours. But that’s only possible with your support.

Will you partner with CitizenLink today to stop men from using women’s restrooms and allow businesses to operate according to their deeply held beliefs?

A special session to be held to consider undoing a troubling city ordinance.

North Carolina lawmakers want to protect the privacy of women and children. They will hold a special session to consider undoing a troubling city ordinance. It could also stop other cities and counties from enacting similar rules.

In February, the Charlotte City Council passed a so-called sexual orientation/gender identity measure that allows men access to women’s bathrooms, changing rooms and locker rooms.

John Rustin, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council sent a letter to Gov. Pat McCrory, urging him to stop these dangerous ordinances.

“These changes mean that men can enter women’s restrooms, shower rooms, bathhouses and similar facilities in any ‘public accommodation’ in the City of Charlotte,” he said. “This would place the privacy, safety and dignity of women, children, the elderly and others at great risk of physical, emotional and/or mental harms inherent with unexpectedly encountering an individual of the opposite sex in a facility that is deemed to be private.”

Similar ordinances have been used in other states to drag Christian business owners to court.

Rustin explained that they have forced “small business owners such as florists, bakers, photographers, bed and breakfast owners and others who have sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage and human sexuality to either conform to a government dictated viewpoint or face legal charges, fines and other penalties. The Charlotte ordinance directly violates the constitutionally protected right to religious liberty, which our Founders considered to be our first and most cherished right.”