First Some Backstory

Almost six months back to the day Governor Pat McCrory of North Carolina (USA) called the state legislature a week early for a 'Special Session' (which hadn't happened for 35 years.) Why you might ask? What major incident or immanent threat required pulling their senators and congressmen (and women) from their vacation?

What brought the North Carolina assembly together so abruptly was to react to the City of Charlotte passing an ordinance that extends non-discrimination law to include protections on sexual orientation and gender identity. This Special (Republican Controlled) Legislative Session then spent the next 12 hours debating, passing and handing to Gov. McCrory who signed into law a bill that basically says the States non-discrimination ordinance supersedes those of counties and cities. This basically revoked any non-discrimination protections extended to the LGBT people in the state AND made it illegal for cities and counties to pass any further such laws.

Why was this done over such a short time period when often this process takes months or years?

Well not long before this, a similar fiasco took place in Indiana, under the leadership of Gov. Mike Pence (who now is the republican presidential running mate,) where word of their 'Religious Freedom Act' essentially allowed for public businesses to discriminate against the LGBT community by refusing service, claiming 'religious beliefs' as a valid reason. While the news of this bill spread like wildfire, major companies like Salesforce and Angie's List stated they were vehemently against this act and would halt any further expansions they had planned in the state, move some existing offices elsewhere, and have to prevent many employees from traveling to Indiana for fear of being discriminated against.

The backlash because so great that Gov. Pence had to backpedal and revise the Religious Freedom Act specifically stating that this law couldn't be used as an excuse to discriminate against the LGBT community, essentially making it a worthless piece of legislation.

I have no doubt that North Carolina Governor saw this and figured it would be best to simply rush through passing what is now called HB2 (house bill 2) in the 12 hour time frame to prevent public and corporate backlash from causing 'political difficulty.' Since the passage of what is now commonly called the 'Bathroom Bill,' the state has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, had the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) tournaments moved out of the state, the NBA All-star game move out of state, and even had university and corporate leaders enact a travel ban to North Carolina. There have also been a number of higher profile entertainers who either cancelled their performances or publicly stated they would donate all money made to LGBT charities in the state.

So why is this being a called the Bathroom Bill when it's in regards to the LGBT community as a whole? Well, most rational people can easily accept that discrimination against LGBT people, let alone anybody, is wrong. So those behind this ridiculous bill instead fear-mongered the entire campaign (and still going) reasoning that stating that Transgender people being able to use the bathroom or locker room that matches their gender identity (vs biological sex at birth) was opening up all women and children to be predated upon by 'sexual criminals and deviants' as well as painting a skewed image that a transwoman is just a man in a dress. The slogan of 'keep men out of the women's restroom' was plastered everywhere, essentially implying that either all transgender people are sexual predators (they only ever mention transwomen by the way) or that the passage of LGBT protections allowed sexual predators access.

On the surface to someone that knows nothing about the issue, this might even sound reasonable...and that's exactly why this became known as the Bathroom Bill instead of an LGBT bill. There are no good, rational arguments against discriminating, so instead they instill fear over a problem that DOES NOT EXIST. They of course never mention that sexual predation is still illegal in all forms, and more often than more is committed by somebody the victim already knows and of authority. They of course never mention that there is NOT ONE documented case of a transperson going in to the bathroom to assault anybody. Instead they wanted to allow so called rational people to claim that they're not against transgender people, they're just not comfortable being around them. So that's really the basic argument that people are using to justify preventing LGBT protections..."I'm uncomfortable with you, so there has to be a law to keep me comfortable." What a great reason to go through all of this, paint the transgender community as sexual criminals and give people a reason to feel comfortable discriminating. Anyone that even scratches the surface of this can see the insanity taking place and masquerading as a law to protect women and children.

Governor McCrory just gets Dumber

A couple weeks ago I wrote an article entitled Non-Non-Discrimination Laws that got deeper in to this issue of Bathroom Bills or Non-Discrimination laws around the country. To keep this brief, even after the passage of Marriage Equality by the Supreme Court in June of 2015, in over half the US states this newly married gay couple could be evicted from a their home if renting or fired from their job, with no legal recourse!

Good thing they're able to get married right? Some states like North Carolina have gone even further to prevent LGBT people from being protected. Seem ridiculous yet? Oh, just wait.

In May of this year, the US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch issued a statement that

HB2 violated both the Civil Rights Act and Title IX and threatened to withhold federal funding to the state.
-Source

In response to this North Carolina Gov. McCrory decided it was a great idea to sue the federal government claiming that they were overstepping their bounds of authority and of course still claiming that HB2 wasn't discriminatory against LGBT people. How dare the federal government threaten to withhold FEDERAL funding to the state! (insert sarcasm here, facepalm) Oh, and let's not forget about the ACLU lawsuit on behalf of a transgender man that works at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill due to being banned from using the public men's restroom by HB2.

In response to the Governors suit, the US Department of Justice filed a counter-suit to:

ban enforcement on the grounds that the law is, as Lynch said at the time, "impermissibly discriminatory. This action is about a great deal more than just bathrooms. This is about the dignity and respect we accord our fellow citizens and the laws that we, as a people and as a country, have enacted to protect them — indeed, to protect all of us.
-Source

And The Latest Update to the Bathroom Bill Debacle

Just yesterday North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory dropped his lawsuit against the federal government citing "substantial costs to the State" as one reason for dropping his lawsuit against the federal government, writing that it did not serve the "interests of judicial economy and efficiency." How nice of him to withdraw his already ridiculous lawsuit and solely state the reason to be due to the state losing money (which everyone but him seemed to know this would happen.) No mention that what he was doing is just flat out wrong, no mention that he's been running for re-election on a conservative platform, no mention of actually repealing the thinly veiled pro-discrimination law. This is yet another case of a typical politician who talks all day only to say nothing.

Even with this lawsuit being dropped the LGBT community in the state can still be denied employment, services, housing and bathroom access. The state congress and governor are still trying to find a way to actually enforce this law beyond fining places that don't properly discriminate. There's even been talks of having bathroom 'bouncers' to check identification to prevent fines. Does this remind anyone else of being asked for 'Papers please' by Nazi officials?

Anyway, I'm sure this insane escapade of a hastily enacted and rather incomplete bill will provide us with many more episodes of the sit-com that is the North Carolina Legislative and Executive branches. Maybe we should just get Jerry Springer elected as their new governor and give this the prime television slot that it deserves.

This is Simply Irrational People Making Excuses to do Irrational Things.

My Previous LGBT Articles:

• Uplifting Transgender Stories
• Transgender Ask Me Anything
• Non-Non-Discrimination Laws. What?!?!
• My Transgender Journey
• LGBT Protections Repealed in my City

Image Sources:
Bathroom Bouncer
Freedom of Religion
Non-Discrimination Law Map
No Men in Bathroom Campaign Ad
Locker Room Door
HB2 is Bad For Business

Article Sources:
North Carolina Passes Law Blocking Measures To Protect LGBT People
Did You Know It's Legal In Most States To Discriminate Against LGBT People?
North Carolina Governor Drops 'Bathroom Bill' Lawsuit Against U.S.