It Will Cost North Carolina $3.76 Billion to Be Transphobic
Recently-ousted North Carolina governor Pat McCrory left his state with the country's first anti-LGBT bathroom bill, assuring voters that North Carolina would remain "one of the top states to do business in the country."
That, according to a new AP analysis, was a bad promise. Over the next dozen years, the restrictive bathroom law will cost the state an estimated $3.76 billion in lost business, the AP found. Due to the discriminatory measure, companies like PayPal and Adidas have scrapped plans to build factories in the state, celebrities like Bruce Springsteen have canceled concerts, and the NCAA is no longer favoring the state with March Madness games.
Supporters of the bill claim that the predicted economic toll is minimal in a state with a $500 billion economy. However, the AP report likely underestimated the cost, as it only included verified information from public record about business that specifically pulled from North Carolina due to the law. The real cost-economically, culturally, or otherwise-is yet to be determined.
Bathroom bills remain alive in Kentucky, South Carolina, Montana, and other states. Texas, which boasts a $1.6 trillion economy, just secured preliminary approval for its own bathroom bill-though the NFL, which (probably) contributes upwards of $1.55 trillion, isn't thrilled about the legislature. And four months after conceding the North Carolina election for governor, McCrory is personally feeling the bill's effects-he remains unemployed because people are "reluctant" to give him a job because they think he is a "bigot," which he promises is the "last thing" he is.
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