"Can’t we figure out just how to get along a little bit better and respect one another? Everybody chill out," John Kasich says. | AP Photo Kasich: I wouldn’t have signed North Carolina 'bathroom' law

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Sunday he probably would not have signed the controversial North Carolina law that prevents transgender people from using public restrooms that correspond to their gender identity and eliminates anti-discrimination protections.

“Everybody needs to take a deep breath, respect one another, and the minute we start trying to write laws, things become more polarized, they become more complicated,” Kasich said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”


“I wouldn’t have signed that law from everything I know; I haven’t studied it,” the GOP presidential candidate added. “You just got to see what the laws are and what the proposals are and why you need to write a law. Why do we have to write a law every time we turn around in this country? Can’t we figure out just how to get along a little bit better and respect one another? I mean, that’s where I think we ought to be. Everybody chill out.”

The North Carolina law, which among other things also voided local anti-discrimination ordinances, has sparked a backlash, including states banning nonessential travel to the state and Bruce Springsteen canceling a concert he was supposed to play in Greensboro this weekend. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, who signed the law, said this past week that the criticism and backlash were hypocritical in several ways.

Kasich said he believes religious institutions “ought to be protected” so they can “live out their deeply held religious purposes.”

“But when you get beyond that, it gets to be a tricky issue,” he added. “And ‘tricky’ is not the right word, but it can become a contentious issue.”