Last week, North Carolina governor Pat McCrory passed into law a bill called House Bill 2, or the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, that bars people in North Carolina from using public bathrooms marked for "Men" and "Women" if it does not match the sex given on their birth certificate. [1] This was immediately jumped on by many people for being a Pretty Bad Thing, for a variety of reasons, and even though it's not entirely like what I've covered before on this blog, I'm going to jump on it too.
First of all: how do you expect to enforce a rule like that? Are you going to make people bring their birth certificates to the bathroom and display them at the door before they're allowed to use the toilets? Or ask them to present their genitals for thorough inspection? Even if the TSA can do that already (rimshot), trying to enforce such a policy on every user of a public bathroom goes beyond "unfeasible" and straight into the realm of "ridiculous".
Okay, even barring the logistic problems, there are some more serious issues with the idea of trying to restrict bathroom use according to sex via the law. As you may or may not already know, transgender and nonbinary people are real and actual people that exist, and their gender identity and presentation often does not match what shows up on their birth certificate. The law blocks transgender men and women from using the bathrooms that correspond to their gender, and as you may expect, this can be disconcerting and uncomfortable for everyone.
The idea behind the law was to prevent cases such as men going into women's bathrooms and locker rooms, presumably for purposes of rape and murder (because that's all that men are thinking about, right?). And the North Carolina government's brilliant plan to stop this is...forcing men to use women's bathrooms and women to use men's bathrooms, apparently? Because that's now what transgender people will have to do when they need to use the public bathrooms and no unisex bathrooms are available. Never mind that there are literally zero recorded cases where a transgender person (or person pretending to be transgender, for that matter) has committed an attack in a public restroom, and states that have enacted non-discrimination laws allowing transgender people to use the right bathrooms have not reported increases in sex offenses [2]. On the other hand, violence against transgender people is all too common [3], and as a result, North Carolina's new law quite possibly makes bathrooms more dangerous, rather than less. Maybe this wasn't the original intent of the law, but when it comes down to interpreting the law, intent often doesn't matter as much as one might think it should.
And speaking of non-discrimination laws, the new North Carolina state law goes beyond simply putting forth a discriminatory law upon government and public facilities throughout the state. It also struck down a citywide law in Charlotte that permitted transgender people to use the bathroom of their gender, and sets a precedent for barring other cities and municipalities from trying to do the same [1]. In effect, it's forcing an unjust law upon all of North Carolina with no way out short of changes to the state laws or the intervention of the federal government itself. And that's terrible.
Now, in much of the popular backlash against the law, facts have been distorted and made up, and certain elements of the law are pretty unclear. Governor Pat McCrory attempted to dispel some of the fears surrounding the law in the press release "Myths vs. Facts: What New York Times, Huffington Post and other media outlets aren't saying about common-sense privacy law". Even though the title sounds like something out of an awful Buzzfeed sidebar ad, it conveys some important points about the law, including: the law can only affect government and government-funded buildings, so private companies and businesses are still allowed to do what they want. Single occupancy unisex bathrooms are fine (assuming they exist in the first place). And young children are allowed to go into the bathroom with their parents [4].
However, the concerns of transgender acceptance remain, as while the release claims that transgender people who undergo a sex change can change their birth certificate to match their identity, the reality for many is that such action is impossible. Also, the release has been accused of misrepresenting facts about the law that, according to interpretation, could result in even more drastic abuse of human rights [5]. This misrepresentation throws the credibility of the release into question and could do more harm than good when it comes to public perception of the law.
And indeed, public perception of the law is often very negative. As a result of the perceived unfairness of the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, many businesses have taken stances against it. Seriously, boycotts and cancellations have been announced, as far as it is possible to boycott an entire U.S. state [5]. Ultimately, the law hurts not only transgender people in North Carolina (and possibly America as a whole, as some states show potential to follow this precedent) but also North Carolina itself, if the backlash grows to the point that businesses pull out of the state in protest. Maybe there were good intentions behind the law at first, but the potential real effects are dire and definitely disagreeable. Hopefully, this will cause the state government to take a step back and reconsider the full implications of their actions, and the rest of America can take a lesson from what happened in North Carolina, followed by the rest of the world.
[1] http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/north-carolina-gender-bathrooms-bill/
[2] http://mic.com/articles/114066/statistics-show-exactly-how-many-times-trans-people-have-attacked-you-in-bathrooms#.nVVtZEWka
[3] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178909000202
[4] http://governor.nc.gov/press-release/myths-vs-facts-what-new-york-times-huffington-post-and-other-media-outlets-arent
[5] http://www.wral.com/fact-check-mccrory-s-myths-vs-facts-email-on-hb2/15605025/
I heard a lot of talk about this law going into place, but I had no idea it had already happened in North Carolina. This law is definitely hurtful toward all, and I think you made that very clear in your post.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing that a law about bathrooms can conjure up so much dialogue, but perhaps in a way it is good thing to get people talking about transgender discrimination. The fact that so many people, both in the media and across the state of North Carolina, feel so strongly against this law is perhaps a sign that maybe the general public is changing their perception on transgender issues. Hopefully if their protests are powerful enough legislators will take action to end such an absurd law.
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ReplyDeleteIt's upsetting how the politicians supporting these causes try to back up their argument. It comes down to little more than emotional pleas that have no founding in fact. Like how there was one politician who used the example of 'do you really want a 40 year old man in the bathroom with your 10 year old daughter?'Insinuating that she (the person who identifies as female) is only pretending in order to be in the same place as these young children.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that a state could (and does) abuse their power over their people is not a new concept, but with this particular law, it's pretty scary. Although they may claim it was not meant to be discriminatory, I doubt it. This kind of law, that so blatantly attacks a group of people who already have so much prejudice against them, is deplorable. North Carolina really needs to get it together!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually quite surprised that legislators found laws regulating bathroom use worthy of consideration. (Has the government gone too far?) I always thought the separation of genders for toilet facilities was a gesture of politeness. Now it seems that people have other reasons.
ReplyDeleteI just heard of a similar law trying to get passed in Georgia but it was more direct against transgender people. Not only did people in the state go against the law but also organizations such as the NFL which said if the bill was passed Georgia would forfeit its chances of hosting the Superbowl
ReplyDeleteThis law is surprising to me just by the fact that it was actually passed. I understand the intention behind the bill. However, how could they not predict the backlash from this bill as well? It seems that minimal thought was put into this bill, especially when it comes to practicality. I enjoyed your post and liked how you made your post personable.
ReplyDelete"rimshot", oh my gosh, you tackle this very important issue with such humor, and even though it is upsetting to think about, this kind of stuff is only going to continue to happen the longer we don't allow ourselves to be open to change
ReplyDelete"rimshot", oh my gosh, you tackle this very important issue with such humor, and even though it is upsetting to think about, this kind of stuff is only going to continue to happen the longer we don't allow ourselves to be open to change
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of this law before your post, and I'm equally disgusted. I guess ashamed would be a better word - independent of the intent of this law, it's just so wildly impossible to implement that I'm worried a state government would pass it. I guess NC is operating on its own understanding of law enforcement. I agree with Savern, too; has there really been a widespread issue with bathroom regulation to need to put a law (one as ineffective as this one) in to place?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that this might actually make bathrooms an unsafe place for people whose initial physical qualities do not reflect their actual sex. Hopefully, those people can get away with using whatever bathroom they want. As you said, it would be pretty difficult to actually bar them from using the one that makes them most comfortable. And then, at the same time, we can be taking steps to try and repeal the law or lessen its spread throughout the US.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, I just hate North Carolina. Being from there, I know people who will be directly affected by this law. For transgender people to even get access to the right bathroom via a birth certificate and sex change, they have to live as a person of their desired sex for a significant period of time, forcing them to go into a bathroom of the opposite gender than they appear. Another important fact about the bill is that it also specifically excludes sexual orientation from a list of what people cannot be discriminated against for. At a state level, it is legal to discriminate against LGBTQ people in North Carolina. My only hope is that no one will enforce this law, and if something does happen, the supreme court will strike it down.
ReplyDeleteJust recently the action of going to the opposite genders bathroom had come up in a conversation I was having and we were discussing how in some states it is considered a felony. Like Savern I had purely thought that these labels were for an essence of politeness and decency, but if the government is looking that far into it, can we say they're looking to far? In the same respect, you're completely right. How this would be regulated and the opposite effect it would have with people who identify as transgender makes one wonder if the government is thinking things through fully.
ReplyDeleteAnother great post, Luke! I recently saw something on Facebook from a male bodybuilder who was born a woman, and I think pretty much anyone would agree that he wouldn't quite fit in in the lady's room. No genital check required.
ReplyDeleteI must say this post was quite baffling to me. That's pretty surprising to me that a law like that was passed, and the enforcement of it is quite puzzling to me. I really am wondering just how effective something like this could be at fixing the problems it was designed to solve.
ReplyDeleteThis post was very informative, I had no idea that this law was passed. From what you've described, it seems to be extremely controversial, and highly unrealistic. I hope that North Carolina sees how terrible this law is, and that other states don't follow in North Carolina's footsteps.
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