So the year-long battle over North Carolina’s controversial bathroom bill, HB2, comes lurching and shuddering to an uneasy end.

Roy Cooper, referring to House Bill 142 as an “imperfect compromise,” gave the liberal spiel of HB2 as a “stain” on the state of North Carolina, and of course, he was far more worried about our “reputation” among outside special interest groups than he ever was about the well-being of our citizens.

The battle over the Tar Heel state’s bathrooms began in 2016, when the Democrat-dominated Charlotte City Council decided that they were independent of the state that sustains them, and set about to pass an ordinance that would make all Charlotte bathrooms gender free-for-alls, in some twisted effort to appeal to the transgender community.

The ordinance encompassed all businesses, rest stops, and even school bathrooms and shower rooms. It was so broadly worded that any random, horny 17-year old boy could simply say he “felt” feminine and could gain access to the girls’ locker room.

Or even worse, imagine a family sending their 10-year old daughter to the bathroom in a local restaurant. It’s crowded, nobody is paying attention – except the 50-year old pedophile who can now freely walk into the ladies’ room with the little girl because, tolerance.

And if you try to stop that pedophile?

Well, failure to adhere to this new age of tolerance for the perverse would result in YOU being heavily fined and/or jailed, according to the ordinance.

The Republican-majority in the NC General Assembly quickly drafted HB2, which declared bathrooms in North Carolina restricted to birth gender.

The bill also restricted cities from breaking from the state, when it comes to setting minimum wage standards.

Ok. That has nothing to do with bathrooms, but the GA felt the need to put a block on anything that might upset the balance, either socially or fiscally for the rest of the state, which saw amazing success under Governor Pat McCrory.

HB2 was hastily approved by the General Assembly, with all Democrats walking out of the proceedings, rather than participate in the vote, and was sent to Governor McCrory’s desk for his signature, as they rushed to get the law in effect before the date that Charlotte’s ordinance was set to kick in, April 1, 2016.

McCrory signed the bill into law on March 23, 2016, and things got crazy.

Musical artists that nobody really cares about, like Bruce Springsteen and Mumford and Sons boycotted the state.

Liberal idiots from New York and San Francisco declared that city and state employees wouldn’t be able travel to the state (their loss).

The NCAA and ACC snatched fairly won championships from North Carolina college teams and threatened to move pre-scheduled championship games to other states.

States, incidentally, that have gender-segregated bathrooms in their arenas, but we won’t talk about that bit of hypocrisy.

In fact, the NCAA, acting as the liberal thugs they are, put a deadline of 48 hours on the state this week, saying either HB2 be repealed… or else.

It’s not as if efforts to come to a fair and equitable compromise haven’t been attempted before this week.

In 2016, shortly after HB2 was passed, McCrory and the General Assembly attempted to reach an agreement with the Charlotte City Council to do a reset.

It was an agreement that the Council was ready to accept, at first, but it was later revealed that state Democrats and McCrory’s opponent for the governorship, Roy Cooper, convinced the Council to reject the compromise deal, with hopes that any economic damage done to the state as a result of HB2 could be used as a campaign tool.

Then, of course, there was President Obama’s directive that all U.S. schools were to make their bathrooms gender neutral.

He even set his corrupt Department of (social) Justice on the state, threatening a lawsuit and giving the state a handful of days to repeal the bill.

Governor McCrory answered the threat by filing a lawsuit against them, first.

Rock. Hard. Conservative.

Fast forward to today.

McCrory narrowly lost the governorship, and after several tries at repeal, Thursday saw it happen.

I covered the developing events from Tuesday night forward, actually.

In a bizarre presser, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore presented details of an email exchange between the General Assembly and Roy Cooper’s chief counsel, detailing an agreeable compromise, which Cooper, when contacted, denied agreeing to.

Um… ok.

By late Wednesday night, Berger and Moore announced that an agreement for repeal had been reached and the vote would take place on Thursday morning.

The first vote went through the North Carolina Senate, and among the howls of protest from LGBT activists, passed with a vote of 32 – 16, moving it forward to the House for the final vote.

Berger stated it best:

“This is a significant compromise from all sides on an issue that has been discussed and discussed and discussed here in North Carolina for a long period of time – for the past year at least,” Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said Thursday. “It is something that, I think, satisfies some people, dissatisfies some people, but I think it’s a good thing for North Carolina and represents, as I said, a significant compromise.”

Finally, a vote of 70 – 48 put HB142 over the top.

House Bill 142, which initially dealt with occupational licensing boards, was gutted and replaced with language repealing House Bill 2 entirely and stating that only the General Assembly can regulate access to multiple-occupancy bathrooms, locker rooms and changing facilities. It also prohibits local governments from enacting or amending ordinances regulating private employment practices or public accommodations until Dec. 1, 2020.

And of course, there are still those who fail to see the victory in this compromise.

The Lt. Governor of North Carolina, Dan Forest, issued this statement from his Facebook page:

For immediate release: Lt. Governor Dan Forest Opposes HB2 Repeal Efforts

“If HB2 was right to begin with, which I believe it was, then why are we repealing it? If it is wrong, then why wait four years to fix it? Such ambiguity undercuts the legitimacy of a law that we have fought so hard to defend. We are yielding the moral high ground and giving in to a new form of corporate extortion from an unaccountable, out of state, non-elected, tax-exempt organization (NCAA) and for what?… a ballgame? Why are we allowing them to dictate to us, laws that govern the protection of our people? We should have the backbone to tell them to take a hike.”

Forest may very well be looking to challenge Cooper in 2020.

Roy Cooper did sign the bill, and of course, is claiming this as a victory.

He’s about to find out how quickly the oh-so-tolerant left turns on their own. They didn’t want this repeal bill, because it didn’t go far enough, in their estimation. They’ve already planned to give him a taste of what Governor McCrory had to deal with for his entire governorship. Every special interest group, from Equality NC to the Human Rights Campaign – all groups that helped propel Cooper to the governorship – were looking for their payback, and this wasn’t it.

The word is that protesters will be gathered in front of the Governor’s Mansion with their horns and cymbals, giving a raucous, all-night “concert” to protest his signing of HB142.

And somewhere, Pat McCrory will be sound asleep.