title:  NC Governor Robs Disaster Relief Fund To Hire Lawyers To Defend Trans Bathroom Bill
text: Can you put a price on bigotry? North Carolina Republicans just did. It s $500,000.North Carolina is a state precariously placed in the danger zones of both hurricanes and tornadoes. It s suffered its fair share of disastrous floods. It s warm enough to be a fertile ground for the mosquitoes experts warn could be spreading the devastating Zika virus. So it s more than just a little crazy that Republican Governor Pat McCrory announced that he would be robbing his state s own disaster relief fund to pay for the defense of his illegal trans bathroom bill.Led by McCrory, state Republicans have diverted half a million dollars from the state s  Emergency Response and Disaster Relief  fund and say they will use it to hire lawyers to fight tooth-and-nail against the federal government which has deemed the anti-trans bill known as HB2 unconstitutional. Considering how obvious it is that this violates the Civil Rights Act, the money will serve only to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.The law has already cost the state tens of millions of dollars in lost business, boycotts, and bad press. Adding the $500,000 is only going to make things worse. This is particularly dire because the fight against the Zika virus continues to go unfunded at the federal level. A recent bill proposed by Republicans to give some of the funds was shot down by Democrats after they insisted on including an amendment to defund Obamacare. The premise, to take away millions of Americans health insurance during the outbreak of a potential health epidemic was, to put it lightly, repugnant on every level.So rather than get serious at a state level, North Carolina decided to defund itself. It will now head into the eye of the Zika storm with a pitiable amount of money to combat it. Instead, they will pay for a few lawyers to ensure trans people are victimized for just a few months longer. If that doesn t say it all, I don t know what does.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images