NCAA reconsiders holding championships in North Carolina after repeal of bathroom law

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) said on Tuesday that it will once again permit North Carolina to host championship events after the state repealed its controversial bathroom law.

Last week, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper signed a bill to reverse H.B. 2, which required individuals to use public restrooms matching the gender on their birth certificates. The NCAA had announced earlier that North Carolina would not be considered for championship events from 2018 to 2022 as long as H.B. 2 is in effect.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the sporting organization said that its Board of Governors "reluctantly" voted to allow future games in the state in light of the reversal of H.B. 2. However, the NCAA noted that the new law is "far from perfect" and a "compromise."

The law that replaced H.B. 2 prohibited cities from enacting their own anti-discrimination ordinances aimed at protecting LGBT individuals until 2020. The NCAA said that the restrictions concerned the board of governors, who preferred a full repeal of the controversial law.

"This new law has minimally achieved a situation where we believe NCAA championships may be conducted in a nondiscriminatory environment," the NCAA said in a statement, according to Reuters.

Cooper noted that the NCAA had wanted a complete repeal of H.B. 2, as did he. However, he said that the new law was the best compromise he could get as the Republicans hold veto-proof majorities in the legislature.

"We are glad that the NCAA is going to come back to North Carolina and join us in fighting for more protections and for more ways to keep people from being discriminated against," Cooper said on Tuesday, as reported by the Denver Post.

The new law stipulates that only state legislators, not local governments or school officials, can make rules governing public restrooms.

Critics, who dubbed the new law as "HB2.0," said that the NCAA's announcement was disappointing and argued that the state is continuing to discriminate against LGBT people with the new measure.

"After drawing a line in the sand and calling for repeal of HB 2, the NCAA simply let North Carolina lawmakers off the hook," said Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin in a statement.

The NCAA board of governors said that "additional documentation" would be required from sites selected for championship events regarding how the athletes and fans would be protected from discrimination.