NC Residents Rejoice As Pat McCrory Gives Up His Position As Public Bathroom Monitor

Former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory’s days of [metaphorically] peeking over public toilet partitions are over. Today, nearly a month after he lost the election, the notorious homophobe finally conceded.

McCrory is the genius behind North Carolina’s famous “bathroom bill” HB2. The bill stated that transgender persons must use the public restroom that corresponds with the sex listed on their birth certificate.

He insisted that the bill was about privacy and safety rather than discrimination, because what screams “privacy and safety” louder than an old guy demanding to know who’s on the other side of the toilet partition while you’re trying to take a tinkle?

Fortunately, the people of North Carolina came to their senses in November and voted the old perv out of office, electing former NC Attorney General Roy Cooper as the state’s new leader. In the wake of McCrory’s concession speech, people took to Twitter and Facebook to express their joy.

 

McCrory’s History Of Hate

We can joke all day about McCrory and his weird perversions, but the reality is, he leaves a legacy of hate, not only for the LGBTQ community but for teachers, schoolchildren, and people living in poverty. A December, 2015 report by the N.C. Policy Watch, a division of the North Carolina Justice Center, states:

“In the 2013–15 biennial budget, the legislature’s allocation for public schools was more than $100 million below what the state budget office recommended as necessary to maintain the status quo and more than $500 million less (adjusted for inflation) than what was spent on public education in 2008. And the new budget for 2015–17 continues that trend with investments that remain well below  2008 pre-recession levels, spending roughly $500 less per student. In 2014, North Carolina ranked 47th in the nation in per-student spending.”

McCrory proposed a bill that would cut food benefits to more than 100,000 people living in the most economically disadvantaged counties in North Carolina — a state that’s already ranked the fifth poorest in the entire country. He also refused to expand the state’s Medicaid program, despite federal health officials’ explanation of how the expansion would help his constituents:

“There’s no doubt that expansion increases access to health care… Today’s report highlights that, along with its other benefits, Medicaid expansion would dramatically improve access to treatment for people with mental and substance use disorders, thereby improving health outcomes.

Research shows that low-income adults with serious mental illness are significantly more likely to receive treatment if they have access to Medicaid coverage, with benefits for their health. The report estimates that if North Carolina expanded Medicaid, 29,000 fewer individuals would experience symptoms of depression and 42,000 additional individuals would report being in good or excellent health.”

Of course, based on McCrory’s obsessions with bathrooms, it looks like he could use a little help himself. Maybe Governor-Elect Cooper can help him access the care that he needs. One can only hope.

Featured Image Via Coming Home

April Fox is a freelance writer from North Carolina. In 2009, she appeared on an Irish radio show to discuss an article she penned on the benefits of punk rock on child development. She writes a little bit about everything, but her interests lean primarily toward music, politics, and parenting and child development. Her books, Object Permanence, Spine, and Chicken Soup for the Fuck You, are available on Amazon and in stores around her hometown of Asheville, NC.