North Carolina Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Roy Cooper said Tuesday that he will not defend Gov. Pat McCrory and the Board of Governors in the lawsuit regarding House Bill 2, a state law passed last week that bars local governments from enacting nondiscrimination protections for the LGBT community. 

Cooper said in a news conference that the law is a “national embarrassment” and it “will set North Carolina’s economy back if we don’t repeal it.”

There has been backlash across the country since McCrory signed the bill into law last week. New York state, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle and West Palm Beach have issued nonessential travel bans to North Carolina.

McCrory recorded a YouTube video in response to Cooper’s decision not to defend the state of North Carolina and the negative responses he has received. 

“The real embarrassment is politicians not publicly respecting each other’s positions on complex issues,” McCrory said in the video. “Unfortunately, that has occurred when legislation was passed to protect men, women and children when they use a public restroom, shower or locker room. That is an expectation of privacy that must be honored and respected. Instead, North Carolina has been the target of a vicious, nationwide smear campaign.”

Cooper’s office created an anti-discrimination policy in 2001 that protects workers based on marital status and sexual orientation, and he said HB2 conflicts with that policy. 

Instead of defending McCrory, the Board of Governors and the others being sued in the federal lawsuit, Cooper will defend the two LGBT people and the lesbian professor against the state. The four organizations standing behind these three individuals — American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of North Carolina, Equality NC and Lambda Legal — sent out a statement commending Cooper’s decision. 

“North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, the state’s top law enforcement official, has concluded House Bill 2 is unconstitutional and harms North Carolinians without justification,” the statement said. “As our lawsuit highlighted yesterday, House Bill 2 singles out the LGBT community for discrimination. That’s not only incompatible with the state’s constitutional and legal obligations but also our shared values as North Carolinians.”

Phil Berger, North Carolina Senate pro tempore and a Republican, sent out a statement during Cooper’s news conference calling him to step down from his office. Cooper said he has no plans to step down. 

“Roy Cooper’s refusal to defend the law makes clear he wants the ACLU to win by default in federal court what they can’t win at the ballot box and allow men to walk into locker rooms at YMCAs across our country and undress in front of young girls,” Berger said in his statement. “His zeal for pandering for the extreme left’s money and agenda in his race for governor is making it impossible for him to fulfill his duties as attorney general — and he should resign immediately.”

Cooper said he has defended the state in other cases he didn’t personally agree with, like a 2013 voter ID law. North Carolina has hired outside lawyers before in other cases, and Cooper believes that McCrory will probably do the same in this instance, regardless of consequences. However, Cooper said McCrory’s disregard for consequences is what inspired Cooper to run for governor. 

“My office has stepped up and defended some bad legislation that I do not agree with,” Cooper said. “We do our job in this office. We have seen legislation passed that hurts North Carolinians. We’ve seen legislation passed that hurts people’s ability to register to vote. Our office is required — and we have stepped up to defend those cases regardless of any other consequences. But that fact has encouraged me to run for governor because I know as attorney general, I can’t have as much of an effect on those policies as I can running for governor.” 

McCrory criticized Cooper in his video. 

“As the state’s attorney, he can’t select which laws he will defend and which laws are politically expedient to refuse to defend,” McCrory said. “… When you are the state’s lawyer, you are a lawyer first and a politician second.”