North Carolina's legislature just passed a shocking anti-transgender bathroom bill

North Carolina governor Pat McCrory will get his wish—on Wednesday, both chambers of the North Carolina legislature rushed through a bill overriding a crucial part of the Charlotte City Council’s ordinance granting legal protections for LGBT citizens last month. McCrory signed the bill into law late Wednesday night, according to reports.

Here is the governor’s full statement:

Back in February, McCrory sent the following email to two Republican councilmen in Charlotte:

“It is not only the citizens of Charlotte that will be impacted by changing basic restroom and locker room norms but also citizens from across our state and nation who visit and work in Charlotte,” McCrory said in an email to the council’s two Republicans, Ed Driggs and Kenny Smith. “This shift in policy could also create major public safety issues by putting citizens in possible danger from deviant actions by individuals taking improper advantage of a bad policy.”

As Buzzfeed News writes, the bill passed through today would “restrict single-sex public restrooms and locker rooms in publicly run facilities to people of the same sex on their birth certificate.”

When the Senate voted, Democrats were so enraged by the process that they staged a walk-out mid-vote. Via the Charlotte News And Observer:

Senate Democrats gathered after the unusual walkout for a news conference. Senate Democratic Leader Dan Blue of Raleigh called the session “an affront to democracy” and said his caucus wouldn’t be part of “this hostile takeover of human rights.”

Buzzfeed reported that earlier in the day, Christian conservatives expressed fear in hearings that men would pray on women if given permission to use the women’s bathroom.

Opponents of the bill expressed shock on Twitter and Facebook.

https://twitter.com/spacekatgal/status/712801726525530113

https://twitter.com/imfromraleigh/status/712777245237121024

“This would be the most sweeping anti-LGBT bill in the nation,” Chris Sgro, executive director of the advocacy group Equality NC, told the Observer. “What Charlotte did is not unique or extreme.”

Michael Rosen is a reporter for Fusion based out of Oakland.