Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, was arrested today at the North Carolina State Legislative Building – not for using the women’s restroom, although she did that too. They said their sole intention for the short session is to repeal HB2. “It’s unfortunate William Barber is only happy when creating a raucous, otherwise, he might have heard about the General Assembly’s ability to give more back to the people of North Carolina thanks to the budget surplus under our GOP leadership”. Barber has repeatedly decried HB2 as discriminatory to transgender people as well as lower-income workers, calling it “an unholy alliance of racism, classism, and homophobia”. We’re not afraid of transgender people. But controversy over the new law, which has drawn reaction from U.S. presidential candidates, U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron among others, is expected to dominate.
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While pro-HB 2 forces held their rally, about 20 people opposing the law held a sit-in outside McCrory’s office in the old Capitol to protest, joining arms and singing songs including “We Shall Not Be Moved”.
“‘Plaintiffs” contention that North Carolina’s requirement is one of the strictest in the country ignores the reasonable impediment exception, ‘ Judge Schroeder, an appointee of President George W. Bush, wrote.
The law blocks local and state protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and directs which restrooms transgender people can use.
“To show that the majority in North Carolina really does agree with the legislature for overturning the Charlotte bathroom ordinance”, said Goetz.
The Democrats offered the bill Monday, the first day of the legislature’s annual work session. Jackson wants a hearing on the bill and an up-or-down vote. Pat McCrory’s office, according to the AP.
A day of rallies at North Carolina’s statehouse began with the delivery of petitions signed by 180,000 people seeking the repeal of a law that curtails protections for LGBT people.
Not all in attendance gathered in support of repealing the bill – counter-protesters mobilized to show support for the bill and disapproval of the protest. Opponents collected more than 175,000 signatures for a petition that called for a repeal to HB2 and filed them in boxes that were delivered to the governor’s office. He said it affects the poor and minorities as well as the LGBT community, despite conservative efforts to depict it as a law focused on bathroom safety.
The arrests came hours after thousands of Christian conservatives and other supporters of the law gathered on a grassy mall behind the Legislative Building to praise the mostly Republican legislators and GOP Gov. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal are challenging it in federal court, arguing that it is unconstitutional because it violates the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the 14th Amendment.
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Meanwhile, the NC Conference of the United Methodist Church released a statement earlier in the day asking elected officials to strike down the law as soon as possible.
