54 Arrested Fighting "Bathroom Bill" in North Carolina

TYT's Eric Byler reports from Raleigh, NC where protesters staged a mass sit-in to protest House Bill 2, a.k.a. Hate Bill 2, a.k.a. the Bathroom Bill. He caught up with Erica Lachowitz, a mother-turned-activist who spoke at the morning rally that kicked of 12 hours of non-violent directed action. [Special thanks: Bernetiae Reed for additional footage.]

NOTE: On May 9, 2016, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced a lawsuit against the state of North Carolina arguing that HB 2 violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Lachowitz explained that the government forcing people like her to use the men's room would put lives in danger, and during her interview with Byler, she recalls a time where she brutally assaulted by homophobes. Later in the day, 54 people were arrested for staging a sit-in inside the office of NC House Speaker Tim Moore (R), who led the reactionary charge to prevent the city of Charlotte, and all other jurisdictions in the state, from protecting the rights of trans-gender Americans, increasing the minimum wage, and filing workplace discrimination complaints.

Civil Rights leader Rev. Dr. William Barber II had asked participants not to respond to counter-protesters in support of the new law requiring proof that a person use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender of their birth. He has also said, "Please don't call House Bill 2 'The Bathroom Bill.' because if you read Section 2 and Section 3, it also takes away the right of municipalities to increase the minimum wage. NC Republicans need the "bathroom" hysteria headlines to cover up this attack on the Fight for 15, because their actions would be deeply unpopular with voters if they did this straight up. 80% of North Carolinians support increasing the minimum wage.

North Carolina Republicans are stoking bigotry, he asserts, and using the trans-gender community to disguise a cynical attack on labor, women, and families on behalf of business interests, and, to rally the base of the Republican party for November's crucial election.

There are historical comparisons in which African Americans have been scapegoated and used in this way, including the wave of terrorism that overturned democratically elected biracial governments in the South in the decades following the Civil War, and the hateful electioneering of former NC Senator Jesse Helms. Thus, the the multi-faith and multi-racial Moral Movement is organizing a mass sit-in on Monday to expose the hidden agenda behind the so-called Bathroom Bill.

Instead of The Bathroom Bill, call it The Anti worker, Anti-Living wage, Anti-Family, Anti-Women, Anti-Civil Rights, Anti-Gay, Anti-Transgender Bill.

GOP lawmakers hoped we'd focus on the bathroom controversy, and not read Sec 2 and Sec. 3 which prohibit city governments such as Charlotte's and Greensboro's from requiring contractors to pay a living wage and afford workers with vacation sick leave.

It also takes away the ability to file employment discrimination suits in in state court.

Too many in the news media fall for the sensationalism of the Ted Cruz argument that little girls will fall prey to sexual predators if their entry to girls' bathrooms is not prohibited by state law.

The Orwellian moniker, “Religious Freedom" reminds historians of previous dishonest, hate-based movements cloaked in false religiosity.

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed for the first time that people who had been legally codified as three-fifths persons would enjoy equal protection under the law in this country. But the very notion of equal protection under law for African Americans was so offensive that it inspired a violent, orchestrated backlash, led by terrorist organizations such as the KKK working in concert with former slave owner/aristocrat/politicians.