North Carolina’s new “bathroom bill” is now famous — or infamous, depending on how you view it.
House Bill 2 was passed by the General Assembly in an emergency session in less than a day’s time on March 23. Legislators rushed to respond to Charlotte’s City Council’s approval of an ordinance that would allow transgender people use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.
The state law requires transgender people in public places to use bathrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificates. Among other things, the bill also prevents local governments from banning discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in employment and public accommodations.
The response from across the country was almost immediate — and none of it good for North Carolina.
LGBT groups were quick to accuse the state of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender, while the governor and mostly Republican legislators who passed the bill portrayed the opposition as a “smear” campaign by liberals. The bill, they said, is all about safety and privacy — or about protecting women and children from being molested in public restrooms or something like that.
The controversy has simmered for weeks now against the backdrop of a hard-fought re-election campaign that pits the Republican Gov. Pat McCrory against a Democratic challenger, Attorney General Roy Cooper, in what is expected to be a tight battle.
The “bathroom bill” has provided plenty of fodder for editorial cartoonists, pundits, and late-night show hosts — and some of the speculation about the “bathroom police” has been quite amusing. Island Free Press linked to one of them — a satire from the Oriental, N.C., online newspaper.
However, there is a more serious side to the controversy that exploded into the headlines again this week when the state and the federal government filed dueling lawsuits over the legality of HB 2.
The U.S. Department of Justice said that HB 2 violated federal civil rights laws, and last week, the federal government set Monday as a deadline for North Carolina to either rescind the law or lose what could be millions — or even billions — of dollars in federal aid to the state.
McCrory responded on Monday by filing a lawsuit, charging the federal government with a “radical reinterpretation” of the federal civil rights law and asking the court to declare that HB 2 is legal.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in a nationally televised news conference, announced that the federal government had counter-sued, charging that HB2 violates the U.S. Civil Rights Act and ?constitutes a pattern or practice of employment discrimination on the basis of sex.?
Lynch was quite passionate as she expressed her disappointment in her home state — she is a Greensboro native — and likened the “bathroom” bill to Jim Crow and other laws that forbade blacks from using “white” restrooms.
The legal skirmish is likely to be protracted and costly — the bill, of course, funded by taxpayers.
And, by all indications, the “bathroom bill” is already taking its toll on the state economically.
The top executives of several hundred corporations have signed a letter opposing the law. PayPal was the first company to announce it was canceling plans to expand into the state at a cost of about 400 jobs.
At least five states and more than 20 municipalities have banned government-funded travel to North Carolina, and conventions have moved out of state or said they are thinking about it.
Bruce Springsteen was the first major artist to announce that he was cancelling a concert because of the state’s discrimination against LGBT people, but others have said they will. Jimmy Buffet went ahead as planned with concerts in Raleigh and Charlotte so as to not punish his fans, but he said whether or not he will schedule future concerts will depend on “whether the stupid law is repealed.”
Earlier this week, the Williams Institute, a UCLA School of Law think tank that focuses on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, said in a report that the new law could cost North Carolina up to $5 billion a year.
Most of the economic hit would come from the loss of federal funding. The report, however, also took into account the loss of business investment, reduced travel and tourism, the costs of litigation and enforcement, as well as costs associated with high school dropouts, workplace discrimination, health disparities, productivity loss, retention and recruitment.
A spokesman for the governor called it “a left-wing report produced in California, and an obvious attempt to smear North Carolina.?
Here are some highlights from the report:
? There are about 250,000 LGBT adults in North Carolina, including 90,000 in Charlotte. Of those total LGBT individuals statewide, about there are an estimated 22,200 transgender adults, according to the report.
? There are another 86,000 LGBTQ youth, including 15,600 transgender youth, in North Carolina between the ages 13-19. Over 41 percent of those in high school have ?seriously considered? suicide.
? North Carolina faces a $4.8 billion loss in federal grants and contracts, mainly stemming from the $4.7 billion in funds for public schools, colleges and universities.
? Researchers estimate that $40 million in business investment, as well as 1,250 jobs, have been lost because of the law. Another $20 million and 550 more jobs are at risk, according to the report.
? Because of government travel bans and the loss of private tourism, North Carolina also will likely lose sales tax revenue, according to the report. In 2014, travel spending statewide generated an estimated $1.7 billion in state and local sales tax revenue.
? HB2 could make it harder to recruit young talent from outside North Carolina, according to the report. Over 70 percent of millennials support marriage equality.
Closer to home, the public reaction to HB 2 has been somewhat more subdued, but not entirely quiet.
Two of Dare County’s municipalities — Nags Head and Duck — have passed resolutions calling the bill discriminatory and calling for its repeal.
The Ocracoke Civic and Business Association issued a statement calling on the General Assembly to “re-visit their decision soon and find the political will to repeal HB2 before it further damages the reputation of this great state.”
OCBA also said:
“Ocracoke takes great pride in being a community that welcomes all of its visitors without discrimination. Tourism has been the mainstay of our economy for over 100 years, and we depend on visitors choosing us again and again as their favorite vacation destination.
‘Unfortunately, the recent passage of House Bill 2 is already having a negative impact on tourism in North Carolina. This is a devastating blow to the economy of the state, and the Outer Banks is no exception. It is unfortunate that the decisions of a few in the NC legislature should be able to hurt the people and economy of the entire state.
“Ocracoke has a diverse group of residents with a variety of views and opinions. However, the Ocracoke business community wants to make it clear that HB2 is not representative of the island.”
Last week, the Outer Banks Restaurant Association also asked for a repeal of the bill.
“While we are not here to debate the moral, legal, or social issues related to this bill, it is obvious based on recent events and reaction, that the bill is being viewed as discriminatory and is having adverse effects on the reputation and business interests of North Carolina,” OBRA president Daniel Lewis wrote in a letter to the governor and legislators.
“We are hoping that adding our collective voice may ring more loudly to the legislative body in that this legislation be reversed,” the letter continued. “Based on the immense opposition, negative national publicity and tangible economic impact, we feel nothing short of a full repeal will remedy the damage done by this legislation.”
The Outer Banks Tourism Board discussed the bill at a meeting last month, but has declined thus far to take any action. The Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce said in a brief statement that it supports a ?business environment of inclusiveness and non-discrimination.? The issue has not come up at a meeting of the Dare County Board of Commissioners.
A few real estate managers have said publicly and more have said privately that the bill has or will result in cancellation of reservations and vacations plans on the Outer Banks. Some note that visitors who have rented vacation cottages have already made hefty deposits, so they aren’t likely to cancel this year, but have said they will next year.
The Island Free Press, a relatively small newspaper in the overall scheme of things, has received a half dozen or so unsolicited emails from readers like this one from Rich Jacobson:
“My family has taken summer vacations in the Outer Banks (OBX) for 12 years now and we always look forward towards having our family of 28 spend a week on the beach. NOT THIS YEAR. We had plans to again spend a week in the OBX but those plans are now canceled because of HB 2. We calculate this to be about a$25,000-$30,000 loss for the week for North Carolina. Our family has LGBQ members and they are obviously not wanted in the state of N.C.”
And this comment was posted on an article by a regular reader:
“I’ve spent spring and fall weeks in Avon for 35 years, coming from West Virginia with small groups to enjoy the fishing and beaches. I wrote Hatteras Realty about a month ago and told them I wouldn’t be back as long as the state continues to allow discrimination based on HB2…I will be keeping that promise.”
Many more folks just seem rather puzzled by the “bathroom bill.” They just don’t get it or the reason for it
There have been no issues that anyone can cite of incidents with transgender folks using the bathroom set aside for the gender with which they identify.
Without “gender police,” how will “the bathroom bill” be enforced?
A friend noted that she would be comfortable with a male who identifies as a woman coming into the women’s restroom dressed as a woman. She said she would not be comfortable if a woman who identifies as a male came into the women’s restroom dressed as a man — which is what HB 2 would require.
And, we already have laws that protect people using public restrooms. When you get right down to it, who is to stop anyone from dressing as the opposite sex to slip into a restroom for deviant purposes? It can happen now and it could happen under HB 2.
American attitudes are surely in transition on the issues of sexual preference and gay marriage, which is now legal in the U.S. Today, most folks, even those who do not approve of the LGBT lifestyle, really don’t want to see their state discriminate against LGBT people.
It’s just hard to see anything good coming from the “bathroom bill.”
If you were really cynical, you might even think that the politicians — on both sides — would like to keep the flames fanned until the general election in November, just to keep their voting bases feeling righteous about the issue.
