Leftists are in a tizzy with the passage of HB2, North Carolina’s bill that prevents men from entering women’s bathrooms and vice versa. Here are five things you need to know about the bill.
1. It’s essentially a compromise bill on the bathroom issue. While the bill does prevent men from entering women’s bathrooms, Ryan Anderson writes at The Daily Signal that the bill provides “reasonable accommodations” for “single-occupancy facilities” and gives students “controlled access to faculty locker rooms.” In addition, the governor’s office clarified that people who have engaged in a sex-change operation can legally change their gender.
In other words, the bill lets private businesses cater to their employees as they see fit and government officials can provide accommodations to students and employees. This is why Anderson calls the bill a “reasonable compromise.”
2. The bill was in response to a Charlotte ordinance spearheaded by a convicted child molester. As The Daily Wire has previously reported, North Carolina’s bathroom bill was passed in response to an ordinance passed in Charlotte, North Carolina that would have allowed men to enter women’s bathrooms. The city mayor justified the passage of the bill by citing a study by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Chamber of Commerce that was run at the time by a convicted pervert. North Carolina’s bill would prevent perverts like him from entering women’s bathrooms, and despite what the left says, there have been examples of men taking advantage of transgender bathroom laws, with one example here.
3. It creates uniform employment laws. Under HB2, employers cannot discriminate on the basis of “race, religion, color, national origin, biological sex or handicap in state courts.” Leftists are unhappy with the fact that sexual orientation is not included as part of the discrimination protections. But as Anderson points out at The Heritage Foundation, such a provision would create litigation nightmares for employers.
“In practice, this means employers who express disapproving religious or political views of same-sex marriage or tolerate employees who do could incur enormous legal liabilities,” writes Anderson. “Such potential liability could cause employers to self-censor their speech and develop policies to prevent employees from expressing views such as support for marriage as a union of one man and one woman.”
Anderson explains further:
In states with [Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity] SOGI laws employers have already started censoring their employees. Regina Redford and Robin Christy, two employees of the City of Oakland, California, responded to the formation of an association of gay and lesbian employees by forming the Good News Employee Association, which they promoted with flyers that read, “Good News Employee Association is a forum for people of Faith to express their views on the contemporary issues of the day. With respect for the Natural Family, Marriage and Family values.” These flyers contained no reference to homosexuality, but their supervisors ordered the flyers removed, announced in an e-mail that they contained “statements of a homophobic nature and were determined to promote sexual orientation-based harassment,” and warned that anyone posting such materials could face “discipline up to and including termination.”
State SOGI laws have also chilled employer speech. Seattle’s Human Rights Commission brought charges against Bryan Griggs for playing Christian radio stations (on which he advertised) in his place of work and posting a letter from his congresswoman expressing reservations about gays in the military, when a self-identified gay employee complained of a hostile work environment. Griggs had to spend thousands of dollars on legal fees before the plaintiff dropped the charges, saying he had made his point. State SOGI laws have also been used to violate the religious freedom of wedding professionals and religious charities, as noted above.
Most businesses already have their own SOGI standard anyway. This way, North Carolina has statewide employment laws so various cities and municipalities can’t interfere with private businesses.
4. It prevents cities from raising the minimum wage. As part of having uniform statewide employment laws, HB2 prevents cities and municipalities throughout the state from raising their minimum wages from the state-mandated $7.25 minimum wage. North Carolina is already in the top five states for economic development, so preventing cities from enacting minimum-wage hikes should help them maintain that position.
5. Leftist organizations are suing the state of North Carolina. The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and Equality North Carolina have filed lawsuits against HB2 and the legal proceedings of the lawsuits will make headlines going forward.