If you're from North Carolina, it's probably a bad time for you to claim the Tar Heel state as your home.
On Wednesday, March 23, North Carolina legislators, including Governor Pat McCrory, passed a bill that would reverse the bans placed on LGBT discrimination. Not only does it prevent anti-discrimination, but it also does not allow for local governments to pass anti-discrimination bills.
So what does this mean, and why does it matter? In a nutshell, the LGBT community does not have the same protections it once had (and fought for).
Let's look at the issue that arises from this bill -- known as House Bill 2 -- in order to make sense of its impact. Transgender people are no longer allowed to use the bathrooms that correlate to the genders with which they identify. Republicans claim that this is meant to protect women and children from biological males and to ensure privacy in bathrooms.
I understand the concern here. I really do, and I'm trying to find ways to defend the logic behind passing this bill. However, despite its apparently good intentions, it is undermining the progress the country has made for the LGBT community. Through the overturn of the anti-discrimination ban, the North Carolinian government is dehumanizing these individuals.
We can already feel the numerous tremors from this political earthquake. On Sunday, April 3, a group of interfaith leaders organized over 700 people to rally against the bill at College Park Baptist Church in Greensboro.
On an even greater scale, one transgender student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro is even suing the state over this "Bathroom Bill."
On an even greater scale, President Obama and his administration are determining whether to cut federal funding to North Carolina.
In other words, the good intentions have resulted in bad news for the state. No matter the legislators' intentions, it's time for them to take action regarding these negative consequences.
The question at hand, then, is this: What can the state do to reverse the bill's effects? There is one relatively simple solution, and that is to implement gender-neutral bathrooms. This would not only eliminate their concern for sexual predators but would also provide a safe environment for transgender people in public locations.
Of course, with this implementation comes dents to the state's budget, but this "con" far outweighs the pros of not implementing such facilities. Until legislators decide to do the right thing and make facilities accessible to all, the North Carolinian government will face consequences that will hurt the state as a whole.
