NC Gov. Pat McCrory Tells Chuck Todd Gay Rights Groups Are ‘More Powerful Than The NRA’ [Video]

Governor Pat McCrory, the North Carolina Republican who signed a controversial bill aimed at transgender individuals requiring them to use the restroom of their gender at birth, went on Meet the Press this morning to discuss the fallout from the bill.

Meet the Press‘ moderator and NBC News political director Chuck Todd posed a question to McCrory about the bill, which has caused concern for those who identify as trans and individuals sympathetic to their cause, according to Think Progress.

“Todd then pressed McCrory on question of access to bathrooms. ‘Do you want somebody who identifies as a woman, born on their birth certificate as a man, may look like a woman, going into a men’s bathroom? Is that fair to them?’

“McCrory responded that 27 to 29 states ‘also don’t have this type of mandate on private business’ and said that while he did not meet with any transgender people before signing the law, he has ‘had very positive conversations’ with some before and since. He then blasted the Human Rights Campaign (which he called ‘a very powerful group called the Human Relations… Human Rights Council’) for being ‘more powerful than the NRA’ and for putting too much pressure on North Carolina ‘instead of having good dialogue.'”

The New Civil Rights Movement noted another section from Pat McCrory’s interview with Chuck Todd about the bathroom bill. During the interview, Todd asked McCrory about the dialogue that took place before the vote and whether additional dialogue could have either stopped the bill or prevented such outrage had the bill been written with different provisions.

“This is a national debate that has literally come on in the last three months,” McCrory was reported as telling Todd. “No one talked about it until Houston.”

The backlash against Pat McCrory and the state of North Carolina for the so-called “bathroom bill” has been fierce. PayPal announced it was reversing its decision on opening a new center in the state, taking with it hundreds of jobs that would have employed North Carolinians. Celebrities have also come out against the bill, with Bruce Springsteen canceling a show in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a protest to the signing of the bill, HuffPost reported.

Despite the actions of other businesses, the National Basketball Association recently announced it was not moving next year’s All-Star game even though it had publicly entertained the idea.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league would try to “effect change” in another way, Breitbart reported.

“Silver called the law ‘problematic for the league.’ He also said that he is working with Charlotte Hornets ownership seeking to ‘effect change in North Carolina.’

“‘The law as it now stands in North Carolina is problematic for the league. There was no discussion of moving the all-star game. What the view in the room was, we should be working towards change in North Carolina. I have been working very closely with the Charlotte Hornets, with Fred Whitfield who’s the president of the team and together with ownership down there to seek to effect change in North Carolina,’ Silver said.”

What could add to McCrory’s problems is something else said during the interview with Chuck Todd, when he said supporters of the bathroom bill came up to support him.

What do you think? Do you support Pat McCrory’s position and take a stand for the so-called bathroom bill? Or do you stand with the many corporations and the Human Rights Campaign in opposing such legislation? And is the HRC more powerful than the NRA? Give us your feedback in the comments section.

[Featured Image by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images]