HB2 & Executive Order 93

There has been a lot of news coverage the last few weeks regarding the "bathroom bill" in the state of North Carolina. Here is a break down of what has transpired so far. On February 22, 2016 in Charlotte, North Carolina an ordinance was passed that allowed transgender persons to use the bathroom (in public places) of the gender they identify as. An example of that would be if Katelynn Jenner (formerly Bruce Jenner) was in Charlotte, NC and decided to use the bathroom in a public place she could use the ladies room. That would go into effect on April 1, 2016 but there was a lot of uproar. There was a special session held on March 23, 2016 by the NC General Assembly and Governor Pat McCrory signed into law HB2. The new law, signed the night of March 23rd by our Governor repealed the Charlotte, NC ordinance and made it final. Here is a pdf of HB2.....

http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015E2/Bills/House/PDF/H2v4.pdf


A few days ago on April 12, 2016 Governor Pat McCrory signed into law Executive Order 93. This was put into place after all the backlash over HB2 to "clarify" as was stated by our Governor. Here is a pdf link below...

https://ncgovernor.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/documents/files/McCrory%20EO%2093_0.pdf

Now, for my thoughts.....................................................

To understand the people here, you would have to go back many generations. There are some people that live here in the south that are very progressive but there are some that are what we call "old school". They were raised when Jim Crow laws were the norm and racism ran rampant and they witnessed the Civil Rights movement and it still didn't change their minds. So, yes, discrimination is alive and breathing in the South but I think/hope it gets smaller with every new generation. When I use the term discrimination I am referring to anyone who is biased about a people based on generalizations that have been spoon fed to them since they were small children. People are scared of what they don't understand. The people here are scared of transgender people because no one seems to understand them. They think transgender means a man with a full beard who looks like a man but is wearing a skirt. That isn't accurate at all. To me, and I could be wrong, transgender is a biologically born man that has always felt like he should have been female or a biologically born woman that has always felt like a man inside.

The loudest outcry is from parents with children that are convinced that persons that are transgender are somehow pedophiles in sheep clothing. They are under the impression that this law opens the doors for our children to be assaulted or their innocence be exploited by some sick pervert that is going to twist this law to their own advantage. Another outcry is will women be safe in a public bathroom that a "man" can come in and use? Once again, I believe people are worried that this will open the door to women and children being physically or sexually assaulted. 

I have been asking everyone I encounter what they think about this bill and the sneaky minimum wage provision that was added and how LGBT could be discriminated against because they don't fall under the blanket umbrella of  "race, religion, color, national origin, age, biological sex or [disability]" as protected classes. The Executive Order 93 was basically rescinding everything in HB2 but the bathroom issue. It is still crazy to me that no one heard about those two issues on the news until the people fussing about that got louder than the people fussing about the bathroom issue.

There are some musical acts like Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr that have canceled concerts in our state because of HB2. All the fuss and national exposure has caused businesses to suffer because when these big names pull out of venues everybody in that town suffers. Big concerts bring in more people to Charlotte, Raleigh or Greensboro where they are playing so even the small mom and pop stores suffer. 

When are we going to wake up and realize what our government is doing to us? They are slowly trying to take away all our rights even as they smile in our face. They try to take the focus off the real issues and get us all screaming, cussing and talking shit to one another so they can plow over us adding sneaky provisions to laws because we are too stupid to take our head out of our asses and read, question, and study our leaders in Washington, D.C.