Clay Aiken: North Carolina Bathroom Law Will Backfire
The North Carolina transgender law has received its share of backlash from gay rights groups, political figures, sports leagues, entertainers and companies who have threatened to stop doing business there.
In March, North Carolina became the first state to require transgender people to use restrooms in public buildings and schools conforming to the sex on their birth certificate instead of one that matches their gender identity.
During an interview with the FOX Business Network’s Varney & Co., former “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant Clay Aiken said the General Assembly in North Carolina has overreached in the last five years and made the transgender law a political issue.
The former “American Idol” contestant told host Stuart Varney that the central point surrounding the North Carolina transgender law revolves around one question: “Do you want to go to the bathroom with Caitlyn Jenner?”
“People have been using the bathroom that they associate with for decades and it hasn’t been a problem,” Aiken said. “This is a problem that was created and manufactured by the [North Carolina] General Assembly.”
The North Carolina native says transgender men and women have been using the restrooms they associate with for years without anyone really taking notice.
“Common sense again says that this is something that’s been going on for years and you didn’t realize it and this is a political ploy on the General Assembly’s part.”
Aiken, who ran for Congress as a Democrat in North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District in 2014, says the incentive behind the transgender law is to boost voter turnout in his home state.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told a town hall style event hosted by NBC’s “Today” show at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan that transgender people should be allowed to use any bathroom they feel comfortable with — including at Trump Tower in New York.
Aiken says what scares him about Trump is the inconsistency of his views and he thinks Trump rides his own personal wave.
“He agrees with me on the HB2 (House Bill 2) on the transgender law so he certainly takes the pulse of what the crowd in front of him says. And for someone who’s going to potentially be president with their finger on the trigger, that is not something that I want,” Aiken said.