How Much Did the Bathroom Bill Cost North Carolina?

Our weekly check-in with the PolitiFact Truth-O-Meter.

By Alain StephensMarch 15, 2017 9:30 am,

House Bill 2, or HB2 as it’s more commonly known, has been creating economic backlash against North Carolina for nearly a year now.

The controversial law was the first (and so far, only) in the nation to say that transgender people can’t use the bathrooms or locker rooms of the gender with which they identify in government facilities like schools or parks. It also continued North Carolina’s policy of not giving people protection from anti-LGBT discrimination and banned any city or county from extending local nondiscrimination rules. It also banned local governments from enacting rules related to issues like the minimum wage or paid family leave.

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest spoke in Texas at a press conference Monday in support of a bill similar to HB2 that’s under consideration there.

Forest said the backlash is worth it to protect people’s privacy and safety in bathrooms. And, he said, the backlash hasn’t even been that big in the grand scheme of things: That despite the steady stream of boycotts and cancellations, North Carolina’s economy has barely been harmed by HB2.

“If you look at the most extreme instances of economic impact, by the media and by the universities and the people who come out and say ‘This is the impact,’ that most extreme impact equates to one-tenth of 1 percent of our annual GDP,” Forest said.

Is that a fact? Gardner Selby of the PolitiFact Texas fact-checking team has the answer.

Hear how Forest’s claim scored in the player above.