North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has signed into law one of the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws in the country. In the meantime, Disney and Marvel have threatened to stop filming in Georgia if another anti-LGBTQ bill passes there.
The North Carolina law, which the governor signed yesterday, states that:
- Schools “shall require every multiple occupancy bathroom or changing facility that is designated for student use to be designated for and used only by students based on their biological sex.” Public agencies must similarly limit multiple occupancy bathrooms to biological sex only.
- “Biological sex” is defined as “The physical condition of being male or female, which is stated on a person’s birth certificate.” [Ed. note: Transgender people can have the sex designation on their birth certificates changed in some states, but not all. To do so in North Carolina requires sex reassignment surgery, which not all trans people want to do or can afford to do.]
- State laws now “supersede and preempt” local laws related to employee compensation and benefits, and to public accommodation. No individual may bring a civil action against the state based on its nondiscrimination policies in employment or public accommodation.
As you can probably guess, North Carolina does not offer protections on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, although its city of Charlotte approved such protections in February. Gov. Pat McCrory (R) had told the Charlotte City Council that if those rules passed, the state would intervene, the Charlotte Observer reported. He made good on that promise yesterday, signing the bill after the General Assembly passed it during a special session that cost taxpayers about $42,000.
Ginger Feimster, state coordiator of PFLAG North Carolina, called the new law “an attack on our families and on the American ideals of fairness and inclusion.”
And lest cisgender people think only transgender people will be impacted, consider how the state will enforce the law. Will anyone whose gender isn’t immediately apparent be asked to provide documentation when they need to pee? When I was a kid, I had short hair and often dressed in boys’ clothes. (My mom was all for it—they were sturdier and cheaper.) I was often misgendered by others despite being cisgender. A law like this would likely have made life difficult for me. For trans people, it can only be worse.
Meanwhile, Disney and Marvel have said they will stop filming in Georgia, and the NFL might refuse to hold the Super Bowl there, if Gov. Nathan Deal (R) signs a “religious liberty” bill that would:
- Allow religious leaders to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies or other rites for anyone (read: marriages for same-sex couples);
- Affirm that individuals are not required to attend such ceremonies or rites (because apparently a polite “Sorry, I am unable to attend” RSVP isn’t enough, and we have to make it law);
- Allow faith-based organizations to refuse use of their facilities for “an event which is objectionable” and to refuse to hire or retain any employee whose “religious beliefs or practices or lack of either” differ from those of the organization;
- Allow faith-based organizations to refuse “to provide social, educational, or charitable services” that violate the organization’s “sincerely held religious belief.”
Reuters reports that “Deal has made clear that he will not sign a bill that allows discrimination”—but I suspect LGBTQ advocates in the state won’t rest easy until he vetoes it.
Let’s remember that “Thirty-five percent of the LGBT population in the United States lives in the South,” according to UCLA’s Williams Institute. Georgia has over 260,000 LGBT adult citizens and 21,000 same-sex couples, 4,200 of whom are raising kids. North Carolina has over 250,000 LGBT adult citizens and 18,000 same-sex couples, 3,400 of whom are raising kids. Add in the uncounted number of LGBTQ kids and their parents (LGBTQ and not). Kudos to the individuals and organizations standing up to support them.
