On Wednesday, March 23rd, 2016, the North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 2, a law that eliminates all legal protections for LGBT people statewide.
A special session was called specifically to enact this measure that interferes with local governments’ ability to enact local ordinances that offer such protections. Just for good measure, they added language that prohibits local living wage ordinances and restricts a number of other municipal freedoms.
This action is likely to be quickly challenged in court, but of course House Bill 2 prohibits legal challenges to this likely unconstitutional statute in state courts. So, any challenge will need to be filed in federal court where federal law and legal precedent clearly states that the act is unconstitutional.
The state spent approximately $42,000 a day already enacting this action and will maybe spend much more defending it. Assuming, of course, if the state Attorney General decides to even attempt to defend a clearly unconstitutional action.
I take this law very personally as I count myself one of the LGBT community. This action is aimed directly at me. The discussion on social media seems to focus entirely on the prospect of bathroom use by those claiming to be transgender. The hypothetical pedophile posing as a transsexual to molest little girls in the restroom is the boogie-man of the moment. Apparently, this specter was all that was needed to mobilize the Republican faithful and true believers.
Of course, no one I have challenged has been able to cite a single instance of this ever happening. So to prevent a hypothetical possibility, they have instituted into law a very real, daily reality of transsexuals using the restroom of their birth gender.
What a nice dilemma, use the restroom that gets you arrested or the restroom that gets you beat up.
How nice.
Of course, bathrooms are merely the convenient cover. The clever distraction that allows the real intent here. Now, it is perfectly legal to discriminate against LGBT people in employment and accommodation. It is perfectly legal to refuse service.
How long will it be before the signs go up? How long until some landlord can finally evict without repercussions? Of course, political affiliation is not a protected status.
So, I suppose Carrboro businesses can legally post signs stating “No Republicans Allowed.”
— Chuck Morton
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