Governor Pat McCrory Signs an Executive Order to Clarify HB2, Doesn’t Change Anything
+ Pat McCrory, governor of North Carolina, signed an executive order today that basically just reiterates HB2, the sweeping anti-LGBT bill that was passed in late March. After so much backlash against the bill with businesses pulling out from their plans to work in the state and with other states ordering non-essential travel to the North Carolina, McCrory believes “there is a great deal of misinformation, misinterpretation, confusion, a lot of passion and frankly, selective outrage and hypocrisy, especially against the great state of North Carolina” and would like to correct it by issuing the order to “affirm and improve the state’s commitment to privacy and equality.”
Here’s how what the order does, according to the Governor:
-Maintains common sense gender-specific restroom and locker room facilities in government buildings and schools
-Affirms the private sector’s right to establish its own restroom and locker room policies
-Affirms the private sector and local governments’ right to establish non-discrimination employment policies for its own employees
-Expands the state’s employment policy for state employees to cover sexual orientation and gender identity
-Seeks legislation to reinstate the right to sue in state court for discrimination
But in reality it really doesn’t do anything and just affirms HB2.
“Gov. McCrory’s actions today are a poor effort to save face after his sweeping attacks on the LGBT community, and they fall far short of correcting the damage done when he signed into law the harmful House Bill 2, which stigmatizes and mandates discrimination against gay and transgender people,” Sarah Preston, acting executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina, said in a statement.
His first point just reinforces that HB2 bans trans people from using bathrooms that match their gender and tries to pretend like it’s no big deal by saying it’s “common sense” to discriminate against trans people. The second point is just stating what was already true because HB2 didn’t affect private businesses and didn’t ban them from establishing LGBT protections. The third point sounds like it might be a sort of victory but it’s not. It would be like saying trans city employees wouldn’t be discriminated against but in reality can’t use the bathroom that matches their gender identity in government buildings. His next point would be a victory if it weren’t for the fact that trans people, state employee or not, can’t use the correct bathroom, which is still discrimination! His last point is great for others who are discriminated for other aspects of their personhood but does nothing for the LGBT community because there isn’t a state-wide nondiscrimination law.
Anti-Trans Legislation Train
+ It’s all monkey see, monkey do now with these Republican politicians and these anti-LGBT bills! South Carolina is the latest state to introduce an anti-LGBT bill somewhat similar to what was passed in North Carolina. Republican Sen. Lee Bright introduced a bill that would block local governments from adopting ordinances that would allow trans people to use the correct public restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities and also prevent trans people from using the correct facilities in state buildings and in schools. Bright used the whole trans scare tactic, saying they pose a threat to women in children.
+ Republican Kansas governor Sam Brownback is trying to change policy that would block trans people from changing their gender on their birth certificates.
A New Jersey School District Approves a Pro-Trans Bathroom Policy For a Change
+ After a heated debate at a school board meeting, the Pascack Valley Regional High School District has voted to allow trans students to use the restroom and locker room facilities that match their gender. The student has to be able to demonstrate their gender is core to their identity. The district says restrooms and changing areas are already supervised and provides individual privacy. “If you want to be called by your newly identified gender name, then we’re going to allow you the opportunity. If you want to be called by a different pronoun, you’re going to be given the opportunity to do so,” Superintendent Erik Gundersen said. “I would say that the use of the restroom and of the locker room is probably the final chapter of the student’s transformation, at least in high school.”
Backlash Against Anti-LGBT Bills in TN, NC, MS
+ Porn site XHamster.com is blocking all users from North Carolina until the state repeals HB 2.
+ Comedian Joel McHale donated all of the profits from his performance at the Durham Center for the Arts to the LGBTQ Center of Durham in protest of the state’s passing of HB2.
+ The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP is ready to sit-in at the General Assembly if HB2 isn’t repealed by April 21.
+ Students part of the UNC system aren’t happy with their universities’ compliance with HB2 and have been protesting and calling for the state to repeal the bill.
+ Canadian musician Bryan Adams cancelled a show in Mississippi in protest of the state passing an anti-LGBT bill. He joins Bruce Springsteen in canceling shows in states that have recently passed these kinds of bills.
+ GLAAD asked the Nashville music industry and other entertainment industries to speak out against two discriminatory bills.
+ Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery says the state’s anti-trans bathroom bill could cost them millions of dollars of federal funding because it would conflict with Title IX laws.
Law & Order
+ Eight married lesbian couples in Indiana say the state is discriminating against them for not allowing both women to be listed on their children’s birth certificates. The couples argue they should be treated the same as heterosexual married couples who have used artificial insemination to have children. The state says the law is fair and gives parental rights to biological parents or adoptive parents, which can be costly and lengthy. A decision on the lawsuit hasn’t been reached yet.
+ A lesbian couple in Scotland is on trial for neglecting, abusing and murdering their two-year-old son, Liam Fee, and for abusing two other boys. Their trial details the horrific abuse they inflicted on the children including locking one boy in a cage and tying another boy to a chair in a room full of rats and snakes.The trial is ongoing.
+ A transgender man in China, going by the name of C, filed a job discrimination case, the first one of its kind. He said he applied for a sales job with the Ciming Health Checkup Center in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou, passed the face-to-face interview and went to an orientation for 7 working days before he could officially be employed by the company. C was then fired before he had an official contract because his employer said he was a lesbian and said that was “unhealthy.” The company fired C for incompetence but have no proof to support it. C is asking for a week’s worth of wages for the time he spent at orientation as well as a month’s salary and an apology from the company. A ruling is expected later this month.
+ Detroit Public School Board filed a federal lawsuit against the state that alleges the state’s emergency management of the district resulted in the violation of students’ civil rights. Colorlines reports:
The suit names two-dozen plaintiffs, including Governor Rick Snyder, the three emergency managers who oversaw the district at various points and several principals who were recently indicted for taking nearly $1 million in kickbacks. It says that officials violated the Equal Protection and Substantive Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It also specifies that not only have the emergency managers improperly managed the district, but that race was a factor in deciding which of the state’s districts would be under their unchecked control.
Grab Bag
+ A new study finds that a 15 minute conversation with a stranger can have a strong impact on their opinions on transgender issues like nondiscrimination protections. Researchers looked into the effects of door-to-door canvassing and found that conversations with an experienced canvasser helped change people’s minds about transgender issues and impacted their opinions over time, even if they were exposed to opinions of detractors. “It seems like these kinds of personal interactions can lead people to change their minds in a way that lasts,” one of the lead researchers of the study, David Broockman, told Think Progress.
+ The U.S. Department of Labor is considering changing their rules on paid sick time for federal contractors. It would allow for up to seven paid sick days and to use for themselves or anyone they recognize as family even if they’re not blood related which is really important for LGBT folks whose family takes different forms.
+ Norway’s Lutheran Church voted in favor of allowing same-sex marriages at their annual conference. Clergy who disapprove are allowed to refuse to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Norway since 2009.
+ The San Antonio school police officer shown in a video body slamming a 12-year-old Latina student was fired on Monday. Joshua Kehm was initially placed on paid leave after the video was released but administration said his response to apprehending the student for “verbal aggression” was “absolutely unwarranted.” In addition, the officer’s report was inconsistent with the video and was delayed.
+ In another incident of violence against students of color in Texas, a white high school teacher who was caught on video hitting a black student multiple times, was arrested and charged with one count of assault.
+ American anti-LGBT groups were present at the World Congress of Families Caribbean Regional Conference held in Barbados last weekend. The president of the National Organization for Marriage spoke at the conference that basically gathered the world’s most notorious and outspoken anti-LGBT groups to promote their hateful agenda. The Washington Blade notes “Barbados is among the Caribbean countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized.”
+ According to the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, American Indian and Native Alaskan girls are five times more likely than white girls to be incarcerated in juvenile facilities. They 40 percent more likely than white girls to be referred to a juvenile court for delinquency; 50 percent more likely to be detained; and 20 percent more likely to be adjudicated, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice.
So… he signs the bill into law, yet tries to put a smiley face on a very ugly law.
Where I come from, if someone does something they have to try and cover up, what they are covering up is wrong.
Godfuckingdamnitall. Argh!
Every news update now is just like:
Soon after the news broke about McCrory’s Executive Order, I said that it was a pointless exercise and I’m glad that the media seems to be recognizing it for the smokescreen that it is.
Does anyone else think Pat McCrory looks just like Lundbergh, the douchey boss from Office Space? Uh yeah… If he could stop pushing harmful legislation based on his creepy fascination with trans people, that’d be great…