If you live anywhere with an internet connection, you’ve probably heard North Carolina has introduced a new law into their long list of other incredibly useless ones. The HB2. Signed by a one Governor Pat McCrory (Is he still Governor? When can we vote him out of office?) This law, effective March 23, basically states that you must use the restroom that corresponds with your birth gender. I am not a lawmaker or a professional, so I don’t presume to be more knowledgeable than Pat McCrory on the important matters of the State. However, I am a lover of equality and human rights for all (whether you’re a woman, a minority, transgender or anything else) so I think this law is stupid.
My real question here is: why does the government care who goes to the bathroom and where they do it? Other people have had this question too, and the response is often that the law protects women from ‘fake’ transgender people from going into the wrong bathroom and sexually harassing the good citizens inside. There are thousands of untested rape kits sitting in North Carolina and around the country, how about we start by properly investigating sexual assaults that have already taken place before taking such drastic “preemptive measures”.
I hate to break it to the people holding public office in North Carolina, but you don’t look like you’re trying to prevent harassment and assault. You look ignorant and transphobic. This doesn’t look like you’re trying to protect the rights of your citizens, it looks like you’re stripping them of the very simple right to choose which restroom they want to use. At the end of the day, I think this is a personal choice, and the government doesn’t really have the right to stick their nose in it.
I’m a North Carolinian transplant. I’ve lived here for three years now, and this is the first time I’ve ever been ashamed to call this beautiful state home. This law is not only extremely prejudiced and hurtful on its own. But it's embarrassing. I'm looking at the situation as someone who completely identifies with her birth gender and didn't grow up here (in North Carolina). I can completely see how to outsiders, the HB2 makes us look not only hateful but uneducated. This decision does not seem like a sound, thought through plan of action. But the rash demands of a man who's afraid to share a bathroom with someone who isn't just like him.
People are already protesting, which is something I'm thankful for. Pat McCrory needs to know that his constituents aren't happy with his decision. In my opinion, Pat McCrory should lose his job ASAP. At the end of the day, is it really the Government's business where I, or anyone else chooses to use the bathroom? Aren't there at least six other things more important to be worrying about?
