On December 19, 2016, a Republican-controlled Congress in North Carolina voted 32-16 to uphold the state’s controversial House Bill 2, or HB2, law. In it, people are forced to use the bathroom of the sex they were assigned to at birth. The law has faced a great deal of contestation already, and many groups fear that trans people who are not “passing” will be put in even more danger when trying to simply pee.

It is already difficult enough to be LGBTQ in the United States, and Republicans have sealed the fate of countless queer people under the guess of – you guessed it – “protecting women”. Funny enough, women are less concerned than men especially the men making this sort of homophobic legislation.

"It is a shame that North Carolina's General Assembly is refusing to clean up the mess they made," said American Civil Liberties Union executive James Esseks.

Not only is North Carolina on the wrong side of history, they are losing millions of dollars as companies, musicians and sports teams refuse to set up shop within the state as the policy persists. In an election year where facts didn’t matter and homophobia and racist fear-mongering, we should not be surprised that HB2 persists, but we can still hope lawmakers can learn from their mistakes.