The National Collegiate Athletic Association will end its economic boycott against North Carolina, handing a huge strategic defeat to the gay and transgender groups which are seeking to erase single-sex bathrooms and other useful legal and civic distinctions between men and women, girls and boys.

The win, announced April 4, came when the NCAA’s university leaders “reluctantly voted” to end its boycott of the state, which began when the North Carolina legislature passed a law in March 2016 which reaffirmed the long-standing practice of keeping separate public bathrooms for men and women. Last week, the state legislature eliminated the 2016 law but passed a new law, HB142, which preserves the legality of single-sex bathrooms and shower rooms.

According to the NCAA statement,

We are actively determining site selections [for future sports events], and this new law has minimally achieved a situation where we believe NCAA championships may be conducted in a nondiscriminatory environment [in N.C.] … If we find that our expectations of a discrimination-free environment are not met, we will not hesitate to take necessary action at any time.

Gay and transgender groups complained bitterly about their defeat, which happened despite loud and economically powerful support from left-wing university leaders, and from wealthy business interests in California, New York, and other far-left states. According to a statement from Equality NC:

“It is disappointing to see the NCAA backpedal after it stood strong against the deeply discriminatory HB2,” said Equality NC Executive Director Chris Sgro. “HB142 continues the same discriminatory scheme put forward by HB2 and does little to protect the NCAA’s players, employees, and fans. The NCAA’s decision has put a seal of approval on state-sanctioned discrimination.” “The NCAA’s decision to backtrack on their vow to protect LGBTQ players, employees and fans is deeply disappointing and puts people at risk,” said [Human Rights Council] President Chad Griffin. “After drawing a line in the sand and calling for repeal of HB2, the NCAA simply let North Carolina lawmakers off the hook.

The transgender groups did gain one concession from the NCAA, which promised to keep the issue alive by demanding updates from N.C. sports officials. “The board, however, directs that any site awarded a championship event in North Carolina or elsewhere be required to submit additional documentation demonstrating how student-athletes and fans will be protected from discrimination,” said the NCAA statement.

The NCAA’s retreat and the resulting defeat of the gay lobby is a big win for voters and legislators around the country who wish to block the effort by “gender identity” activists to eliminate legal and civic distinctions between the equal, popular and complementary preferences of men and women, such as single-sex bathrooms. In many other states, Democratic legislators and business leaders frequently cite the threat of N.C.-like economic boycotts to oppose legislation that recognizes and affirms the difference between men and women.

In general, gay and transgender activists are trying to impose a “‘genderless society” on Americans, in which the government would encourage damaging lawsuits against any facility or group that recognizes the differences between the two sexes.

Their state-by-state political campaign is aided by favorable media, by wealthy donors who fund lawsuits against schools and sports leagues, and by out-of-state business interests which threaten economic sanctions against states which try to preserve single-sex groups and facilities. Also, the transgender groups are aided by sympathetic judges who have the legal power to impose the “gender identity” ideology via civil rights law. The N.C. defeat won’t stop the ideological push, but likely will help Americans contain or roll it back in many states.

The North Carolina dispute began in February 2016 when the city of Charlotte said men and women could use either bathroom according to their chosen “gender identity.” Also, the city ordinance did not require people to prove their “gender identity,” effectively allowing men to use women’s bathrooms and shower rooms if they simply declare a female “gender identity.”

Nationwide, only about one-in-four voters support the “gender identity” ideology. Also, there are very few people who wish to live as members of the opposite sex, with estimates ranging from a high of one-in-130 Americans down to one-in-2,400 Americans.

In March 2016, GOP legislators defeated the Charlotteville challenge by passing HB2, titled the “Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act.” The popular law affirmed the recognition of sexual differences between men and women, it limited cities’ ability to impose social legislation on citizens, it protected sexual privacy in shared public bathrooms, and it reaffirmed long-standing rules for how people can switch their legal sex after medical procedures.

Gay and progressive groups, aided by the established media, then organized a year-long national campaign against the HB2 law.

For example, they persuaded their allies in companies and universities to withdraw investment and sports tournaments from the state. The economic threat, although only partly effective, helped the 2016 defeat of the GOP’s effective governor, Pat McCrory. The anti-HB2 campaign failed, but according to one 2016 supporter, President Barack Obama, it helped defeat Hillary Clinton by distracting public recognition of economic improvements.

However, the business pressure also pushed the new Democratic governor and the GOP leaders to approve the compromise HB142 deal which removed the NCAA boycott.

HB142 is a stripped-down version of the HB2 bill, and it permanently preserves the state’s ability to set rules for single-sex bathrooms. After November 2020, cities and counties will regain some powers to write new legal rights for gays and for “transgender” people who want to live as members of the opposite sex, ensuring renewed political fights over the role of the “gender,” and over distinctions between the male and female sexes.

The “gender identity” advocates slammed the HB142 law:

Last Thursday, the North Carolina General Assembly and Governor Roy Cooper (pictured) passed an egregious bill — HB142 — that keeps some of the most discriminatory provisions of HB2 alive. Under this new “HB2.0,” which replaces one discriminatory, anti-transgender bathroom bill with another, the North Carolina General Assembly reserves total control over bathroom access throughout the state to itself; that means no city, state agency, public university or school board can ever adopt a policy that ensures transgender people have access to restrooms consistent with their gender identity. Further, no city can even consider passing any protections for LGBTQ people until 2020. At the end of this discriminatory “moratorium,” cities will still be prevented from ensuring transgender people are able to use facilities consistent with their gender identity.

Conservatives leaders are downplaying their success, partly because they are trying to avoid a resurgence of the economic embargo by left-wing business leaders. For example, the statement from the NC Values Coalition applauded the NCAA”s decision but decried the economic embargo. The statement by Executive Director Tami Fitzgerald said:

NC Values Coalition is pleased that the NCAA Board of Governors has decided to end their boycott and lobbying efforts against our State and are now including North Carolina bids to host future NCAA Championship events through 2022. The NCAA’s boycott of North Carolina achieved what it wanted—the repeal of HB2—proving that bullying works as long as you meet the demands of the bully; however, the NCAA had no business demanding anything of North Carolina lawmakers. Nondiscrimination laws in North Carolina—even under HB2—have always been similar to 29 other states and 10,000 other multiplicities.

The North Carolina win for Americans may help similar sex-affirmation, anti-transgender fights underway in Texas and many other states.

To read more about the “gender identity” ideology, click here and here.