“We believe North Carolina House Bill 2 is inconsistent with these values, and as a result, we will relocate all neutral site championships for the 2016-17 academic year”.
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At issue in North Carolina is the law known as HB2, which requires transgender people to use restrooms in schools and state government buildings that correspond to the gender on their birth certificate. Tech giants announced they would no longer be expanding operations in the state, and a number of high profile sporting events were pulled as well.
The University of North Carolina has written NCAA Commissioner Mark Emmert requesting that seven sport championships return to the state.
The law sparked a backlash that included entertainers such as Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and Demi Lovato cancelling concerts in North Carolina.
Regarding the September 13 news article “North Carolina loses championship events”: The moral beacons at the NCAA have determined that North Carolina is not fit to host NCAA tournaments because of House Bill 2. The controversy has literally hit him where he lives, as the NC native has watched the National Basketball Association pull the 2017 All-Star game out of the state.
It is a cynical lie that “bathroom bills”, which would require transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to their biological sex instead of their gender identity, are meant to or would safeguard anyone.
Law supporters say limits on anti-discrimination rules and which bathrooms transgender people can use were approved with privacy and safety in mind. They’re such hypocrites-I think they deserve to be in the Hypocrites Hall of Fame!
Currently, discrimination is the law of the land in North Carolina.
Yet demanding that North Carolina treat everyone according to their gender identity and not their biological sex “seems hypocritical to me because they still have men’s basketball and women’s basketball”, said Pressley, pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte.
While I recognize this legislation – and legislation like it in other states – is complicated by society’s continued blurring of the lines of gender and sexual identity, I also recognize the profound hypocrisy of the ACC, the NCAA and other companies and organizations who are making calculated business decisions disguised as moral outrage.
The North Carolina General Assembly adjourned its short session in July after refusing to repeal HB2, and it is not scheduled to reconvene until January – leaving tens of thousands of people at risk for discrimination and harm over the months to come.
House Bill 2 was passed by the GOP-controlled legislature and signed by Republican McCrory to nullify an ordinance passed by the Charlotte City Council.
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“We have so much power as students but we have to be ready to give our energy and we have to be ready to lose our privilege”, said Donegan.
