Yesterday, in the course of one day, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a nondiscrimination bill that bans discrimination based on “biological sex,” but specifically leaves out sexual orientation and gender identity. The governor signed it into law last night.
The law also prohibits transgender people from using the bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, takes away nondiscrimination protections from veterans, and blocks the minimum wage from being raised.
“This bill essentially repeals 50 years of non-discrimination efforts and gives lawmakers in Raleigh unprecedented control over our city and local governments,” Senate Democratic Leader Dan Blue said in a statement. “North Carolina Republicans want to pass what would potentially be the single most discriminatory act in the country. This is a direct affront to equality, civil rights, and local autonomy.”
The single most discriminatory act in the country. And it just passed unbelievably quickly because of the hateful rhetoric that says LGBT people – particularly transgender people – are predatory and do not deserve equal rights. This was a failure, North Carolina. When you go to the polls in a few months, remember how these politicians treated us.
As some of you may know, I live in North Carolina. This bill is a travesty. It not only denies protection by the state, it legally strips away all local laws created to protect and assist LGBT (particularly trans) citizens. If you follow me on twitter, I made it very clear how unacceptable this is to me.
North Carolina voted Barack Obama into office and elected a female governor and senator from the democratic party eight years ago and since then the Republican party has gerrymandered districts, passed a law requiring state id’s to vote, and passed every anti LGBT bill that’s come across their desks.
It’s time to fight back. If you are not a bigot, you have eight months to get your state id and voter registration sorted out, because no single person who voted for this bill should be allowed to keep their seat.
Let me make a few things very clear:
If you do not vote in this election in North Carolina, you are implicated in the ruining of the lives of LGBT people. You are a party to the discrimination against and assaults on trans people in NC. You are the one holding the gun.
And if you decide not to show up at the election because you are unhappy with the democratic presidential candidate that the DNC chooses, you are guilty of bigotry and hypocrisy. I know there are some of you out there that are very salty that it looks like Hillary is going to win and I’m no huge Hillary fan, but if you’ve been telling every person you meet about how Bernie Sanders supports the LGBT community and you don’t show up to support the LGBT community, you a hypocrite.
(Source: gaywrites, via cthulhu-with-a-fez)
