SC would ban transgender people from using public bathrooms, showers or changing rooms of their choice under a bill introduced in the state Senate on Wednesday.
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The Republican Governor Nikki Haley responded that the existing law works well and she does not agree with the proposed bill.
“Government simply has no place in our bathrooms”, said Jeff Ayers, executive director of South Carolina Equality, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights group. It requires transgender people to use the bathroom assigned to their biological sex.
“We keep talking about tolerance, tolerance, tolerance”, said Bright, R-Roebuck.
“Men should use the men’s room and women should use the women’s room – that’s just common sense”, Bright said.
Or was it just one in a series of similar overreaching legislative efforts that offend groups of citizens, discourage businesses and organizations from dealing with our state, and subject us to ridicule?
Last month, privately-owned pharma firm Braeburn announced plans to build an R&D and manufacturing site in Durham County, North Carolina, creating 52 specialist jobs in the state. No local government is now permitted to pass a bathroom access or other nondiscrimination law that would conflict with the state law, which has frustrated activists in more liberal enclaves.
At the time, Governor Pat McCrory welcomed Braeburn as the latest in “a long list of life sciences companies that have made North Carolina the nation’s number one state for biomanufacturing.” .
“Local school boards shall require every multiple occupancy bathroom or changing facility that is designated for student use to be designated for and used only by students based on their biological sex”.
Haley said her office has heard of no issues that would make S.1203 necessary, from either those who feel their religious liberties are being violated or from those who feel their freedoms are being infringed upon.
Nothing in this section prohibits public agencies from providing accommodations such as single occupancy bathrooms or changing facilities or controlled use of faculty facilities upon a person’s request due to special circumstances. “North Carolina is getting so much flak over what is common sense”.
How private businesses handle their bathrooms should be up to the owners, not government, he said.
However, Bright said he is anxious about women having to share restrooms with men.
“If you allow people identify themselves with a different gender in there, you’re putting women in an unsafe situation”, he said.
GOP reining in gay rights?
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The measures come amid a wave of legislation pushed by social conservatives after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage past year. Bright’s bill has been referred to the General Committee, where it’ll be at committee chairman Kevin Bryant’s discretion whether to refer it to a subcommittee. “It will also diminish the state’s draw as a destination for tourism, new businesses, and economic activity”.
