#ICYMI: NC’s HB2 causes national controversy

Posted on by Katelyn Kolls

Last month, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation aimed at superseding a Charlotte city ordinance that would have allowed specific protections to transgender people, particularly in relation to public restroom use. Basically, the Charlotte ordinance would have allowed people to use public facilities based on whatever gender they identify with. Thus, the legislation has been nicknamed “the bathroom bill.” The bill asserts that cities do not have the power to pass non-discrimination ordinances that apply to whole communities. However, businesses can still uphold their own policies  – leading many companies that oppose the bill to enact open-use policies for their facilities.

Below are some tweets opposing the bill and expressing frustration at the state government’s unwillingness to allow more aggressive anti-discrimination legislation. Instead, many see this as North Carolina moving backwards. Even other state officials have weighed in, going so far as to ban official state travel to NC. Several hashtags have surfaced on the topic, including #WeAreNotThis and #WeAreThis, both used to show opposition of the bill and support for those in the LGBT community.

Those in favor of the bill have used hashtags such as #KeepNCSafe and #PatPromised/#PatDelivered, referring to NC governor Pat McCrory. Some seemed to express concern over the idea of men and women openly sharing restroom/locker room facilities, but there are also plenty of discriminatory views being expressed against the LGBT community. While there are obviously NC residents in support of the state’s decision, the majority of social media conversation is focused on opposing the bill and calling out its discriminatory features. Citizens, businesses, and other government officials are demanding its repeal.  It will be interesting to see if the NC General Assembly stands by its decision, or agrees to revisit the issue based on the huge amount of controversy it has caused.

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