Donald Trump Tweaks Stance on North Carolina Bathroom Law
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said he feels "very strongly" that issues related to North Carolina's law that says people must use bathrooms according to their biological sex should be decided by the state, hours after criticizing the legislation.
"I love North Carolina, and they have a law, and it's a law that, you know, unfortunately is causing them some problems," Trump said in an interview on Fox News. "And I fully understand that they want to go through, but they are losing business, and they are having people come out against."
Some businesses have boycotted North Carolina over the law.
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"I think that local communities and states should make the decision," Trump said on Fox News Thursday. "And I feel very strongly about that. The federal government should not be involved."
Earlier that day, Trump appeared on NBC in an interview, and said, "Leave it the way it is. There have been very few complaints the way it is. People go. They use the bathroom they feel is appropriate. There has been so little trouble. And the problem with what happened in North Carolina is the strife and the economic – I mean the economic punishment that they're taking."
Trump's rival, Ted Cruz, responded by saying, "Donald Trump is no different from politically correct leftist elites. Today, he joined them in calling for grown men to be allowed to use little girls' public restrooms. As the dad of young daughters, I dread what this will mean for our daughters – and for our sisters and our wives. It is a reckless policy that will endanger our loved ones."
At a joint press conference with U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron in London on Friday, President Obama said the North Carolina law is "wrong" and should be "overturned."
"The laws that have been passed there (in North Carolina and Mississippi) are wrong and should be overturned, and they're in response to politics in part, in part some strong emotions that are generated by people – some of whom are good people, but I just disagree with them when it comes to respecting the equal rights of all people regardless of sexual orientation, whether transgender or gay or lesbian," Obama said.
Evangelist Franklin Graham slammed rock singer Bruce Springsteen's decision to cancel a planned concert in North Carolina over the bathroom law.
"Bruce Springsteen, a long-time gay rights activist, has cancelled his North Carolina concert. He says the N.C. law #HB2 to prevent men from being able to use women's restrooms and locker rooms is going 'backwards instead of forwards.' Well, to be honest, we need to go back! Back to God. Back to respecting and honoring His commands. Back to common sense," Graham wrote on his Facebook page. "Mr. Springsteen, a nation embracing sin and bowing at the feet of godless secularism and political correctness is not progress."
