North Carolina lawmaker: 'we must fight to keep our state straight'

State Senator Buck Newton

USA: A Republican candidate running to become North Carolina's attorney general faced criticism on Tuesday after saying "we must fight to keep our state straight" while discussing a law that restricts transgender bathroom access and gay rights.

The measure has positioned the state at the center of a debate over equality, privacy and religious freedom as states propose legislation seen as discriminatory against gay and transgender people in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that legalized same-sex marriage.