The city of Raleigh, North Carolina could lose $40 million in convention business over House Bill 2, the anti-LGBT law passed by Republicans and signed into law by Governor Pat McCrory, WRAL reports:
Statistics from the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau show that 16 trade associations or corporate groups have canceled gatherings in Raleigh because of House Bill 2, causing an estimated economic loss of $5.6 million. Raleigh is no longer in the running for another 13 conventions, worth an estimated $2 million combined.
The law, which the state adopted in March, excludes gay and transgender people from nondiscrimination protections and prohibits cities and counties from extending such protections to them. It also requires transgender individuals to use public bathrooms that correspond to the gender listed on their birth certificates.
The U.S. Department of Justice has called the law discriminatory and this week sought a court order blocking its use statewide.
RELATED: NC Lawmakers Change Tiny, Insufficient Portion of Anti-LGBT HB2 Before Ending Session
North Carolina lawmakers ended their session last week by reversing a small portion of HB 2 but left intact most of the hateful law.
Earlier in the week the NBA, the Charlotte Hornets, and the Human Rights Campaign blasted proposed revisions to the law for not going far enough. The NBA has said that HB 2 in its current form puts Charlotte at risk of losing the 2017 NBA All-Star game.
HB 2 is now officially a “disaster” for the state as the Senate has transferred money from a disaster relief fund in the amount of $500,000 to gove McCrory's office cash to defend the law in court.
Wrote Kerry Eleveld at DailyKos:
That means that NC Republicans—the very people who rushed to pass HB2—have declared it a “disaster”… of their own making. Heh. Haha. LOL. Of course, they're also finally trying to reworkthe law under threat that the NBA will pull the plug on next year's All-Star Game in Charlotte. Also laughable since the NBA is already flat-out rejecting the effort because it does nothing to curb discrimination against transgender individuals.
