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North Carolina's Senate has voted against repealing a controversial law that restricts transgender restroom access and has put the state at the center of national debate over LGBT rights.

The legislation to repeal the law, known as House Bill 2 (HB2), was defeated by a vote of 32-16 on Wednesday night, leaving the bathroom restrictions in place statewide.

The Republican-dominated state Senate then adjourned without voting on a second, related provision that would have temporarily banned cities from affirming transgender bathroom rights. 

The legislation signed earlier this year prompted a massive backlash.

Many businesses pulled out of the state, while celebrities and athletes decided to boycott travelling to the area in response.

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State Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, speaks on the senate floor during a special session of the North Carolina General Assembly called to consider repeal of NC HB2

 

Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives Tim Moore (R, top) confers with colleagues as the state's legislature convenes to consider repealing the controversial law limiting bathroom access for transgender people

 

Lawmakers confer during negotiations on the floor of North Carolina's State Senate chamber

The state's House of Representatives, also controlled by Republicans, voted earlier in the day to adjourn.

Legislators had called a special session to consider scrapping the law, which passed in March and made North Carolina the first state to bar transgender people from using public restrooms that match their gender identity. 

Supporters of the law cited traditional values and a need for public safety while opponents called it mean-spirited and unnecessary.

 

North Carolina State Highway troopers keep watch in the rotunda of the Legislative Building as lawmakers negotiate over repealing HB2

 

Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives Time Moore addresses lawmakers in this Wednesday photograph

The national backlash was swift and fierce, leading to boycotts that have been blamed for millions of dollars in economic losses for the state, as events, such as the National Basketball Association's 2017 All-Star Game, were moved out of North Carolina.

The pushback was widely cited as the reason Republican Governor Pat McCrory lost his re-election bid in November to Democrat Roy Cooper, who called for the repeal of the law.

Cooper had said he reached a deal with state Republicans to repeal the law. 

 

Opponents of HB2 hold signs outside the North Carolina House chambers gallery on Wednesday

 

Hunter Schafer, of Raleigh, holds a sign in favor of repealing North Carolina HB2

But Republicans eventually proposed pairing the repeal with a months-long 'cooling-off period,' or moratorium, in which local jurisdictions would be banned from enacting their own ordinances regulating public bathrooms, showers or changing facilities.

The moratorium died without the Senate taking any action.

HB 2 was enacted largely in response to a local measure in Charlotte that protected the rights of transgender people to use public bathrooms of their choice.

The Charlotte City Council on Monday repealed its ordinance as a prelude to the state repealing HB 2. 

 

The legislation to repeal the law, known as House Bill 2 (HB2), was defeated by a vote of 32-16, leaving the bathroom restrictions in place statewide

 

A woman is seen holding a sign on Wednesday that reads 'Hate Bill 2' 

 

Civil rights leader Reverend William Barber, president of the NAACP in North Carolina, speaks to the media inside the state's Legislative Building on Wednesday 

 

HB 2 was enacted largely in response to a local measure in Charlotte that protected the rights of transgender people to use public bathrooms of their choice (stock)