Justice

Trans People Are Destroying North Carolina's New Anti-Trans Bill on Twitter

March 24th 2016

Trans people are speaking out about a discriminatory bill passed on Wednesday in North Carolina, which ends protections for trans people who use restrooms according to their gender identity.

In response, one transgender man from Georgia, James Parker Sheffield, sought to give North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory second thoughts about the safety the divisive new bill is allegedly meant secure.

On Wednesday, Gov. McCrory tweeted out his logic behind the discriminatory new bill:

Sheffield, who donned a stern, bearded face in the tweet, wrote that he would now have to share a bathroom with McCrory's wife according to the law — physiologically, Sheffield is considered a woman.

"It's unsettling to think about how far back this set North Carolina in their efforts toward equality for their LGBTQ citizens," Sheffield, who works at an LGBT health and wellness organization in Georgia, told ATTN:.  

Others who saw Sheffield's rebuff soon followed suit, replying with similar pictures and messages of their own.

Gov. McCrory's House Bill 2 has been described as the nation's harshest anti-LGBT law yet. On a basic level it:

  • Removes municipal non-discrimination protections and prevents LGBT protections ordinances from being passed by cities in the future, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
  • Requires transgender people to use restrooms and locker rooms in schools or government buildings according to their biological sex — not their gender identity.

"Local governments often set the tone for an entire state to move toward equality, and stripping them of their authority to govern in this manner will have long lasting implications," Sheffield said. 

ATTN: has written extensively about the myth of "transgender bathroom panic" — which is just one of the many ways the transgender community faces discrimination on a regular basis.

 

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