House Bill 2, the North Carolina legislation that, among other atrocious things, prevented transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice, could be repealed as early as this Monday– but that’s not necessarily cause for celebration.
Pat McCrory, the North Carolina Governor, has said that he’s willing to repeal the legislation- but only if the city of Charlotte repeals their original ordinance that granted protections to LGBTQ individuals within the city. This Charlotte ordinance was what originally prompted Governor McCrory to enact HB2 in the first place (for a timeline of HB2 check out this video).
As of now, the protections granted in the Charlotte ordinance are null due to HB2, but that ordinance meant something when it was passed, and it continues to mean something even now.
As a North Carolinian and a gay person, I was truly proud of my state when Charlotte passed that ordinance. The south has never been a very accepting place for people like me, so the ordinance was a glimmer of hope in this coal-black state. But my happiness was cut short when only a month later the state legislature signed HB2 into law.
This Bill not only prevented transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice, but also prevented lawmakers in any North Carolina city from adding LGBTQ people to their non-discrimination laws and even took away cities’ rights to raise the minimum wage.
This was a devastating development for the LGBTQ community in North Carolina and made me less proud of my home state that I ever had been before.
In June, after criticism from state citizens and significant loss in business from companies like PayPal and Lionsgate, the state legislature approved limited revisions to the original bill. McCrory touted these changes as monumental, hoping he could avoid any more backlash, but most saw through the revisions as the poor excuse that they really were. The only protection given back to LGBTQ people with the revisions was the right to sue for workplace discrimination. Nothing else. No repeal of the totalitarian and blatantly discriminatory mandate that prohibits city governments from legislating LGBTQ protections. No change on the policy that forces transgender people to use the bathroom that doesn’t correspond with their gender identity.
Now, McCrory has the audacity to dangle something as fundamental as the right to use the bathroom in the faces of our trans community, but with the condition that Charlotte remove its LGBTQ protections. This is unbelievably petty (even for a politician) and raises questions about the future of our state without HB2.
If Charlotte must give up their protections for LGBTQ people in order to gain the right to legislate such protections, then what is really gained? Will McCrory and his administration just reinstate the same legislation if another city attempts to add legal protections for the LGBTQ community?
Luckily, an election is coming up for the governorship, and things aren’t looking great for McCrory. With his blatantly transphobic ads playing 24/7, it’s no surprise that his competitor, Roy Cooper, is currently leading in the polls. As Attorney General, Cooper refused to defend the hateful bill, and will hopefully do everything he can to repeal it (if it isn’t already done) if he is elected.
Either way, my home state has made a fool of itself on the national stage in these past months, and even if McCrory decides to repeal HB2, it will be at the loss of Charlotte’s ordinance, and hate will still prevail both in the law and in our citizens’ hearts. So while this year’s presidential election may scare me more than I can imagine, I can say that I am eagerly looking forward to my state’s gubernatorial election so we can finally remove this bigoted tyrant from office.
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