Picture this: an entire demographic of people in a Southern state are being forced to use specific restrooms, and are subject to legal actions if they don’t comply. Security guards stand outside of restrooms and ask to see identification, and then judge which bathroom a given person is allowed to use. To top off the bigotry, this red state has also made it illegal for disgruntled employees to take action against a corporation for discrimination. I bet you’re thinking we’ve done our homework and have taken this information out of an American history textbook. But we’re sad to say that this isn’t true. This isn’t 1963 we’re talking about, it’s March 2016. The rules of discrimination are generally the same, but the target has shifted a bit; now, legislators are focusing their hate on LGBTQIA+ individuals, and in in North Carolina, the spotlight has been set on the transgender community.
This past March, North Carolina legislators passed a law forcing transgender individuals to use restrooms that coincide with the gender they were assigned at birth, regardless of their gender identity today. The law has been called “the most sweeping anti-LGBT law” in our country’s history, and it prevents almost any attempt at retaliation. Besides the gendered restroom policy, the law has made it illegal for employees of large companies to sue their employers for discriminating against their gender, sexuality, race, or religion at the state level. This law is audacious and blatantly prejudiced towards several minority groups in America, and while a lawsuit has been filed against its discriminatory rhetoric, this isn’t the first institution of its kind.
Yes, we all know about Jim Crow and other legally racist laws in American history before the time of the Civil Rights Movement. We also know about the restriction of the right to marry in 2012. Our country’s laws are peppered with immoral practices and decisions that restrict the freedoms of important, unique groups of people. Sure, we’re getting better. We don’t force African American people to use specific water fountains anymore , and he no longer have communities of Japanese-American citizens living in government-sanctioned internment camps. We’re learning to stop using hateful language to describe when something is stupid or unfair. But just because we’ve made these strides, doesn’t mean we can stop now.
Lawmakers and government figures, people from past generations, don’t think the way we do. They don’t understand the potency that sensitivity and respect can hold, so it’s up to us to change that. We can be the generation that spawns the diversified, inclusive legislation that our country deserves.