North Carolina’s legislature voted, with GOP unanimity, to void all local LGBT anti-discrimination measures within the state. As NPR.org reports:
One word dominated the debate over the bill and the Charlotte ordinance before it: “bathroom.” Charlotte already protected residents from discrimination based on race, age, religion and gender. On Feb. 22, the city council voted to expand those protections to apply to sexual orientation and gender identity, too.
The most controversial element of Charlotte’s expanded ordinance was the fact that it would allow trans people to use the bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.
One-party state supporters will point to this, and a less onerous religious-liberty exemption bill for faith-based groups in Georgia, as indicating why LGBT voters and their allies should only support Republicans. I disagree, as noted in my last post. If there had been at least one, or preferably a few, LGBT-supportive Republicans in the GOP caucus, the outcome might have been different. At least the Republicans couldn’t have so easily painted the issue as a purely partisan one.
The GOP is going to have power—nationally, statewide and locally—from time to time, so the view that it should simply be opposed and not reformed doesn’t move me. And reform means supporting those Republicans who are with us.
One the broader issue, again we see the effective use of fear over transgender people and bathrooms. The left has never understood why the apparent threat to unisex bathrooms, locker rooms and showers has such power, and that’s why we keep losing. The battles for lesbian and gay rights took a few decades of education and engagement; this has not happened around transgender issues, and I include in this failure the farce of sensationalism around Caitlan Jenner. And so transgender rights become the battering ram to obliterate gay rights.
Finally, I think the North Carolina and Georgia bills are radically different. I support faith-based exemptions for religious groups (I’d even go further and support a right of religious dissent for private businesses that don’t want to provide expressive services for same-sex weddings). If LGBT activists weren’t going to the mat to oppose religious exemptions, such a compromise might be able to deter a nuclear option such as the one unleashed in North Carolina.
More. Gov. Nathan Deal vetos the Georgia law, which focused exclusively on religious freedom and was very different from what North Carolina passed, but was treated by the liberal media and LGBT activists as if it were the exact same thing.
I have no issues with the Georgia law per se, although the governor was also correct in noting that the bill’s supporters failed to provide examples in Georgia of the kind of discrimination against faith-based organizations and “certain providers of services” that the bill seeks to protect against (which, unstated, is due to the fact that Georgia lacks an LGBT anti-discrimination law).
Furthermore. As the Washington Post reports, it’s big business lobbying against religious conservatives on these measures. Progressives typically condemn business lobbying as the root of all evil but welcome it in this particular case.
24 Comments for “Reaction: Lessons from North Carolina and Georgia”
posted by Doug on
I’ve give a lot of money to see Governors face when he saw this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/north-carolina-transgender-tweet_us_56f3f787e4b04c4c3761652b?utm_hp_ref=queer-voices
Wouldn’t mind seeing his wife’s reaction too, LOL.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
The “bathroom bills”, which typically mandate exactly this result, are a near-perfect example of phobia whipped up into hysteria for political advantage.
The “bathroom bills” are a solution without a problem. Almost all transgender persons now use “appearance appropriate” facilities without problem.
Nobody wins.
We’ve seen it all before. In fact, the phobia to hysteria shift sums up a lot of anti-equality legislation over the years, from sodomy laws to anti-marriage amendments.
Most likely the law will be ignored for the most part, and transgender persons will continue to use bathrooms appropriate to their appearance without much problem, until courts invalidate the law.
The morons.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
If this had happened in Wisconsin, I guarantee you that each and every one of the 11 Democrats who voted for the bill in the Assembly would be targeted by pro-equality Democrats in the next primary, and homocons would be supporting Republicans who voted for the bill.
That’s the difference between the parties, and the result of the long, hard work that pro-equality Democrats have done over the last 30 years.
posted by Houndentenor on
Log Cabin Republicans have been around for decades. They’ve had just as much time to move the GOP in gay rights as Democratic activists have had to do the same in that party. So why have they don’t such a bad job. And to be fair, it’s not like Democrats set the bar all that high. And of course it’s liberals’ fault? That’s pathetic.
posted by Houndentenor on
So what are you, Stephen, and the other homocons doing to win over the Repblicans on gay rights. That’s a serious and not rhetorical question. As I have stated elsewhere, because beyond the city council, no Democrat has a chance of winning the state representative, state senate, Congressional or US senate seats where I live. None of them. So in 2014 I thought I would vote in the Republican primary so I could have some say in who was elected. Every last one of them was not only anti-gay but they seemed to be in a contest for who among them could be more anti-gay than the others. There was no one even moderate or indifferent to lbgt issues for me to vote for. It’s not as if I wasn’t willing to try. it’s that there is nothing here. And about half the country is like this. Homocons need to get out of their big city bubbles and talk to the actual Republican base. It’s repugnant. So no, I am not voting Republican. For anything.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
The GOP is going to have power—nationally, statewide and locally—from time to time, so the view that it should simply be opposed and not reformed doesn’t move me. And reform means supporting those Republicans who are with us.
Reform also means opposing those Republicans who oppose equality. That’s where homocons run into the ditch as “change agents”.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
One-party state supporters will point to this, and a less onerous religious-liberty exemption bill for faith-based groups in Georgia, as indicating why LGBT voters and their allies should only support Republicans.
Well, you’ve been making that point for years, Stephen, or at the very least lambasting those of us who vote for Democrats.
Lovely self-descriptive Freudian slip, Stephen. I thought I’d not it before you noticed it and changed it.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
The battles for lesbian and gay rights took a few decades of education and engagement; this has not happened around transgender issues, and I include in this failure the farce of sensationalism around Caitlan Jenner. And so transgender rights become the battering ram to obliterate gay rights.
This is an interesting observation, but I think it is also important to keep in mind that the success of the marriage equality movement was given impetus by the anti-marriage amendments that swept the nation in 2004-2008. The anti-marriage amendments brought the lies, the political cynicism, the religious hypocrisy, the substantive hollowness, and the bigoted animus of the anti-marriage movement into focus, and brought things to a head sooner than would otherwise have happened.
The current “bathroom bill” hysteria, resulting in laws like the North Carolina law that requires transgender men to use women’s bathrooms (talk about unintended consequences), will shine a similar light on the lies, the political cynicism, the religious hypocrisy, the substantive hollowness, and the bigoted animus of the anti-transgender movement. As was the case with the anti-marriage amendments, the “bathroom bills” will increase discrimination in the short term, but will speed the journey away from raw, undigested fear in the long run.
I am not surprised that transgender rights have become the battering ram to obliterate gay and lesbian rights.
It was probably inevitable. The dark forces that visited the anti-marriage amendments on the land have not changed, and have not given up. All that has happened is that having lost the battle on marriage equality, the dark forces are now looking for a new hammer to use against gays and lesbians. We saw it in Houston, we see it in North Carolina, and we will see it in other cities, counties and states where Republican politicians and conservative Christians join forces yet again to suppress gay and lesbian rights.
Nothing new.
posted by Tom Jefferson 3rd on
Look, I suspect that the organized campaign for gay civil rights in both States is way underfunded and probably only has a marginal level of success in a few relatively progressive cities.
I also suspect that the “bathroom” arguments are made by folks who would not back a more limited, civil rights bill and who would probably have images of Rocky Horror Picture show performances taking place in bathrooms, unless these stupid bills are passed.
posted by Mike in Houston on
The law is much worse that first expected — not only does it strip all local non-discrimination protections for LGBT people, it does it for everyone. It also eliminates the ability for NC citizens to sue for discrimination (sex, gender, religion) in state court… something that they’ve been able to do for 30 years. It effectively eliminates the ability for anyone to get redress except via the federal courts which have an extremely narrow time window before statute limitation (180 days vs 3 years) kicks in.
The GOP response: it’s a win-win!
posted by Tom Jefferson 3rd on
No civil rights protections at all at the state level in NC?
posted by Mike in Houston on
They only had some legal precedent that allowed for lawsuits to proceed in state court. That all got blown out in the zealous rush to stick it to the gays.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
North Carolina and Georgia are the tip the iceberg.
For those interested, the ACLU maintains a list/summary of the myriad (several hundred) of bills introduced by Republicans in the 2015-2016 legislative session to restrict, limit or deny the civil rights of LGBTs.
Because of the large number of bills introduced, the so-called “religious freedom” bills are tracked separately, and you will need to click through to get to those bills.
posted by Clayton on
“The left has never understood why the apparent threat to unisex bathrooms, locker rooms and showers has such power, and that’s why we keep losing”
Really? Some Jim Crow laws concerned bathrooms, and progressives won. Bathroom fears were part of the argument about gays in the military, and progressives won. So exactly when and how do we “keep losing”?
posted by Tom Scharbach on
We understand it, all right. the argument behind the “bathroom bills” have power because conservative Christians and Republican politicians have systematically whipped up fear about the issue, using the now standard combination of lies, political cynicism, religious hypocrisy, substantive hollowness, and bigoted animus.
The fact that Republican politicians have introduced hundreds of anti-LGBT bills of one sort and another in this legislative session tells the story — political demagoguery — and, as Stephen notes, “transgender rights become the battering ram to obliterate gay rights”.
It really is that simple. The “bathroom bills” are a new front in the Republican and conservative Christian battle to “obliterate gay rights”. We’ve seen it all before, and it isn’t going to stop so long as the anti-gay grandstanding can be deployed as a tool to whip of the base.
posted by Mike in Houston on
And it also won’t stop as long as Stephen & his ilk continue to give cover for this sort of tripe.
Statistically speaking, you daughter is more likely to be sexually assaulted by a family member, family friend, teacher or pastor… yet no one has proposed adding laws requiring churches to perform background checks for their ministers & staff or restricting access of priests to public restrooms. The argument oft heard about allowing trans people in the public restrooms is that the threat of even one person being hurt (or even discomfited) is enough to justify these anti-LGBT laws. Well, Google search “ministers+sexual assault+minor” and tell me that the greater threat is already out there.
posted by Tom Jefferson 3rd on
And its disheartening to see gay Republicans jump onto the banwagon.
People in the gay community in NC has probably been lobbying for statewide civil rights protections for decades.
I doubt that the organized opposition was reasonable in objections or willing to negotate.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
As a side note, the ACLU challenge to the North Carolina law has been filed in federal court. The complaint follows the reasoning in Romer v. Evans and looks reasonably strong.
posted by Tom Jefferson 3rd on
So. Will Trans folk in NC be expected to carry around adult diapers or bed pans?
posted by Tom Scharbach on
No. North Carolina is both a “shall issue” and “stand your ground” state. A transgender man forced to use a women’s bathroom by the law will be able to resist any violence from the ladies in the bathroom.
It would probably be prudent for transgender men to carry copies of their birth certificate with them, and to announce their presence, giving the ladies a reasonable opportunity to flee, when using public bathrooms, as some apparently are now doing.
I suppose (as Stephen may well shortly point out) that “progressives” will make a point of following the law as a device to create public havoc and embarrass Republicans, but I suspect that most will simply ignore the law and continue to use “appearance appropriate” bathrooms, which seems to be causing no significant problems except in the Republican caucuses of Red State legislatures.
posted by Mike in Houston on
Well of course. When conservative bloggers called for men to go into women’s restrooms during the lead-up to the Houston fight because “it’s now legal”, that’s just freedom of speech and “Progressives’ Fault Anyway™”.
posted by Houndentenor on
Yes. As absurd as that sounds, that is exactly what the right expects trans people to do. Anything but use public restrooms. “They can just wait until they get home.” Reasonable people ought to be able to sit down and work out a bill that respects everyone. But this isn’t about being reasonable. This is about election year pandering to the religious right. It worked so well in 2004, why wouldn’t they do it again?
posted by Mike in Houston on
Stephen – your furthermore just shows how completely out of touch you are with the LGBT civil rights movement. Progressive employees and their allies are the driving force for turning workplace equality for LGBT percent people a reality… and that change has provided the impetus for the business community to step forward because the “business case” that makes sense internally is largely the same in the public sphere.
But once again, it’s just an opportunity to make a snide aside about evil progressives while failing to acknowledge that you & the rest of the homocons aren’t interested in actually doing anything to “progress” LGBT civil rights if it takes time away from throwing shade from the sidelines.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
Furthermore. As the Washington Post reports, it’s big business lobbying against religious conservatives on these measures. Progressives typically condemn business lobbying as the root of all evil but welcome it in this particular case.
Gays and lesbians of all political stripes, including specifically progressives, worked with “big business” — typically working from the inside but with significant support from groups outside (witness HRC’s Corporate Equality Index) and the culture at large — to bring the companies around to support LGBT employees and customers. The same is true of unions, and union insistence on fair treatment of gay and lesbian employees was a significant factor in moving some industries along.
Now that it has become established that “equal means equal” in the workplace is good business, even “Jesus Is Our CEO” companies like the Walton family’s enterprises support equality in the workplace and oppose state and federal laws that sanction special discrimination against gays and lesbians.
And that, of course, is the rub, because conservative Christians and their political allies in the Republican Party, as the article points out, cling to the idea that gays and lesbians should be subjected to special discrimination, hopelessly stuck in a time warp while the mainstream has moved away.