SC Gov. Haley: Transgender bathroom bill unnecessary

S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley said Thursday that a bill that would limit what bathrooms transgender people can choose is unnecessary because South Carolinians already are respectful to people from different backgrounds.

“When we look at our situation, we’re not hearing of anybody’s religious freedoms that are being violated,” she told reporters. “Like it or not, South Carolina is doing really well when it comes to respect and when it comes to kindness and when it comes to acceptance. For people to imply it’s not, I beg to differ.”

The Lexington Republican cited the peaceful reaction after shootings in North Charleston and Charleston last year that involved white gunmen killing unarmed African-Americans.

Even though the bill sponsored by state Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, deals with rights of people based on their gender identity, Haley said religious-freedom advocates see people using the bathroom opposite from their birth gender as a violation of their beliefs.

The governor said South Carolina’s 17-year-old state law protecting religious freedoms already covers banning transgender men and women from using bathrooms of their choice.

“We don’t think we need to do anything further to require people to feel like their religious liberties are weakened at this point,” she said.

Several states have passed or are considering anti-gay laws, which has led to some outcry by businesses.

Most notable are North Carolina, which banned local laws protecting employment and housing rights based on sexual orientation and identity, and Mississippi, which passed a law allowing businesses to refuse service to customers based on the owners’ religious beliefs.

“While other states are having this battle, this is not a battle that we’ve seen is needed in South Carolina,” Haley said. “And it’s not something that we see that citizens are asking for in South Carolina.”

Haley questioned whether Bright’s proposal, introduced Wednesday, would win passage in the Senate before the May 1 deadline for a bill to crossover to the S.C. House.

“Nothing is going to happen with the bill this year,” she said.

The N.C. Legislature passed its anti-gay bill in less than a day last month during a special session.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 12:50 PM with the headline "SC Gov. Haley: Transgender bathroom bill unnecessary."