N.C. GOP backpedals on trans bathroom ban to stop NBA from moving All-Star Game

North Carolina lawmakers will work on scaling back portions of the state's anti-trans legislation amid the risk of the National Basketball Association moving next year's All-Star Game to another site, WBTV-TV reported.

Because the game is slated to be held in Charlotte, NBA officials have been meeting with Republican state legislators since the passage of House Bill 2, which barred trans residents from using restrooms according to their gender identity.

"What the league is looking for is for anyone to be able to use, at any All Star venue, the bathroom associated with their gender identity," said the station's source, who was not identified.

According to WBTV, a new draft bill is being prepared that would add worker protections through "specific references to federal statutes" barring discrimination. The bill would also impose stiffer penalties on suspects "convicted of committing certain offenses in a multi-person bathroom or changing facility."

The bill would also introduce a document called a certificate of sex reassignment, which would function as an equivalent to a birth certificate.

"The State Registrar shall issue a certificate of sex reassignment upon a written application from an individual accompanied by a notarized statement from the physician who performed the sex reassignment surgery or from a physician licensed to practice medicine who has examined the individual and can certify that the person has undergone sex reassignment surgery," the draft bill reportedly stated.

The legislation would have to be passed before a statute passed by the Charlotte City Council defying HB2 takes effect.