Photo By John L Marino [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
By Carly Plemons
On March 23, a North Carolina bill was signed into law that prohibits transgender people from using bathrooms or locker rooms that do not match the gender on their birth certificates.
In response to an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting sexual orientation and gender expression that was approved by the Charlotte City Council in North Carolina in February, Republican lawmakers took matters into their own hands and nullified local ordinances around the state.
Debate about whether transgender people should be free to use bathrooms based on their gender identity or not has sparked national controversy. Some states are even banning public-employee travel to North Carolina over the new law.
Current Law
North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop is the primary sponsor of the bill. This new law makes it illegal for cities in North Carolina to expand on state laws that regulate workplace discrimination, minimum wage standards, public accommodations or other business conflicts.
HB2 directly affects transgender individuals that have not taken surgical or legal steps to enforce the gender they identify as, leaving them with no legal right to use the public restrooms or locker rooms they choose to.
The bill states: "Public agencies shall require every multiple occupancy bathroom or changing facility to be designated for and only used by persons based on their biological sex."
Government Response
The North Carolina governor’s office released a video statement after all of the public outrage defending the bill.
“After listening to people’s feedback for the past several weeks on this issue, I have come to the conclusion that there is a great deal of misinformation, misinterpretation, confusion, a lot of passion and frankly, selective outrage and hypocrisy, especially against the great state of North Carolina,” said Gov. Pat McCrory in a statement on April 12. “Based upon this feedback, I am taking action to affirm and improve the state’s commitment to privacy and equality.”
His action involved signing Executive Order 93, which he said would:
1. Maintain gender-specific restrooms and locker rooms in government buildings and schools and to accommodate families with special circumstances.
2. Allow private businesses and agencies can make their own restroom and locker policies.
3. Affirm private sector and local government’s right to establish their own nondiscrimination employment policies.
4. Expand state equal employment policy in order to clarify including sexual orientation and gender identity.
5. Seek legislation to reinstate the right to sue for discrimination in North Carolina State courts.
States and cities banning publicly-funded travel to North Carolina
What Is Being Done In Other States
The Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act led to protests. Travel bans have been a common response among states that disagree with North Carolina’s new law.
New York state and city, San Francisco and Seattle have imposed non-essential public-employee travel restrictions to North Carolina in response to the law.
“Mayors Against Discrimination will also work with private sector leaders and companies, like Marc Benioff from Salesforce, Wells Fargo, Starbucks and hundreds of others,” said San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee, according to a news release. “To apply direct political and economic pressure to repeal or stop the alarming spread of discriminatory laws in the United States.”
North Carolina is not the only state implementing sex-restricting bathroom requirements. Earlier in February, the South Dakota legislature approved a similar bill to North Carolina’s House Bill 2 requiring public school restrooms to correspond to students’ biological sex.
Whether you are for or against #HB2, know that its purpose was to turn us against each other. And it's working like a charm.
-Sen. Jeff Jackson (@JeffJacksonNC) April 19,2016
California’s Response To The Bill
San Francisco and Los Angeles have both banned non-essential travel to North Carolina.
“With one stroke of their pen, Gov. Pat McCrory and (Mississippi) Gov. Phil Bryant have jeopardized the safety and dignity of countless transgender, gay and lesbian people---who are already at an increased risk for violent crime” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “I will continue to do everything in my power to keep L.A.’s tax dollars from supporting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee wrote in a statement he believes strongly that more protections should be added to prevent discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in the U.S. instead of diminishing them and denying people their constitutional rights.
“We as mayors must stand up together and call out discrimination when we see it, and I believe working together we can create change to ensure the rights of all Americans," he said.
So far, nothing prevents California state employees from traveling to North Carolina or conducting business there, however many cities are upset with the way House Bill 2 was enacted. Neither State Sen. Jim Nielsen nor Assemblyman James Gallagher, both of whom represent the Chico area, responded to questions about their position on the issue.
