But opponents of the bill allege it is specifically created to discriminate against individuals who do not identify with their biological sex.
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Republican legislative leaders support the law and say they have little appetite to alter it significantly.
Supporters said opening restrooms and locker rooms to the opposite gender in schools would violate students’ right to privacy. Since the Civil Rights era, cities like Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, have become major urban centers. PayPal announced it is canceling a planned expansion in the state, and several musical acts have canceled concerts there.
Mississippi’s governor signed a bill similar to one vetoed in Georgia that allows businesses and some government officials to refuse serving gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. “Meanwhile our state has real issues we need to address including crumbling roads”, chamber president Ted Pitts said in a statement.
And that makes a big difference on how much say South Carolinians will have on this proposed legislation.
People on Bright’s side of the issue have had more success in MS and North Carolina, with supporters using a few different arguments. In his 41 years in law enforcement, he said, he’s never heard of a transgender person attacking or otherwise bothering someone in a restroom. The number of SC residents who were born in the state fell from almost 77 percent in 1970 to 59 percent in 2010. The Texas senator appeared to reject the idea that a person’s gender identity could ever be in conflict with the sex assigned to that person at birth – as is the case for transgender people.
McCrory backpedaled Tuesday, signing an executive order to give state employees more non-discrimination protection. State contracts will be required to include a similar anti-discrimination provision.
In the non-discrimination order, Edwards also terminated an executive order from former Gov. Bobby Jindal.
The proposal requires multistall bathrooms on public property to be used “based on biological sex”. That “Marriage and Conscience” order from Jindal prohibited state agencies under the governor’s control from denying licenses, benefits, contracts or tax deductions to businesses and people that take actions because of a “religious belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman”.
The South Carolina bill, introduced last week, may go nowhere. However, Senator Bright says the bill is still necessary in the Palmetto State.
Matt Sharp and Kellie Fiedorek, with the national Alliance Defending Freedom, told senators the bill would protect the privacy of students in schools.
Joel Lourie, a Columbia Democrat who has previously voiced his opposition to the bill, praised the transgender speakers, especially the youth, as courageous, and vowed to protect their rights and to do what he has to to keep the bill from being taken up on the Senate floor if it passes out of committee.
Bright said he’s had enough of tolerance if that means “men who claim to be women” going into a bathroom with children.
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Chase Glenn says women would not want him in their restroom, while Capri Culpepper says requiring her to go into a man’s restroom puts her at risk. Bright faces three GOP opponents in June.
