LGBT glossy The Advocate on
Friday named North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory as its Phobie of the
Year.
McCrory unsuccessfully ran on his
record opposing LGBT rights, primarily his signing of House Bill 2,
which he repeatedly defended as he campaigned for a second term.
House Bill 2 is the controversial
Republican response to an LGBT protections ordinance approved in
Charlotte. McCrory made good on his threat to strike down the
ordinance, calling a special session to approve HB 2. The law not
only blocks cities and municipalities from approving such measures –
thus voiding Charlotte's ordinance – it also is the nation's first
state law to prohibit transgender people from using the bathroom of
their choice in many buildings.
Outrage over the law led to an economic
backlash, including job losses and the loss of sporting
championships.
Finalists
for the award included Steven Anderson, the
Arizona pastor who called for the “execution of homos,” Texas
Senator Ted Cruz, a
vocal opponent of marriage equality, Texas Attorney General Ken
Paxton, who has led the states in suing
the Obama administration over its guidance on transgender students,
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who posted, then quickly
deleted, a
“reap what you sow” tweet as news broke of a mass shooting in an
Orlando gay nightclub, Family Research Council (FRC) President
Tony Perkins, a
vocal opponent of LGBT rights and an influential voice in the
Republican Party and the upcoming Trump administration, Vice
President-elect Mike Pence, who as governor of Indiana was pressured
to back
down from a law that targeted the LGBT community, Ben Carson, the
failed presidential candidate who famously
said that jail makes people gay, Phil Robertson, the reality TV
star who spent
part of the year campaigning for Ted Cruz, Manny Pacquiao, the
former boxer who posted a
Bible verse calling for gays “to be put to death,” Paul
McHugh, who has called gender-confirmation surgery “mutilation,”
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, who signed a
bill that protects opponents of marriage equality, Mat and Anita
Staver, the couple behind the law group Liberty Counsel, which has a
long record of representing
Christians opposed to LGBT rights, and Oklahoma state Rep. Sally
Kern, who is best known for her 2008 claim that the
“homosexual agenda” is worse than terrorism.