You may know that North Carolina (among a few other states), has passed a law that would require a person to show ID before entering a public restroom, verifying the ‘real’ gender of the individual. This is a reaction to many people in outrage over the new policies by some states and companies (Target, for instance), that allows people to use the bathroom that coorelates to their self-identified gender. Already, major companies such as Disney, Intel, Live Nation and others have boycotted North Carolina, along with individual citizens (Bruce Springsteen canceled his tour date in Greensboro, NC due to the state’s discrimatory legislation). This has caused outrage on both sides of the issue. In order to ‘understand’ the North Carolina legislation, I turned to the most reliable source of information: Facebook.
As I scrolled through my newsfeed, I came to the conclusion that anti-LGBT rhetoric is out of fear. The justification for beliefs that support the North Carolina Bathroom Bill, follows a ‘safety-first’ line of thought. Despite the fact that there has been zero cases of assault or abuse by a transgender person, many individuals have taken the stance that allowing people to walk into whatever bathroom they chose will encourage ‘perverts’ and ‘rapists’ to take advantage of such a law.
The reality is, this line of thinking is completely flawed. I have seen people share pro-NC law posts, saying things like “I have nothing against transgender people, but I don’t want some creep exposing themselves to my little girl”. Here’s the reality: most cases of child abuse and molestation happen in private homes from people close to the child, such as family. Secondly, you are not any safer surrounded by people of your “biological gender”. If you hear people claiming that bathroom rights would endanger women and children, step back and consider their argument. Are they legitimately concerned or buying into scare tactics fueled by hate?
#boycottNC #LGBTrights