Trans Community Stands Against "Bathroom" Law in NC

Did the Charlotte, NC City Council do the right thing by voting to protect the rights and safety of its transgender citizens by allowing them to use the bathroom of their choice? The majority of residents in the state, the majority of Americans, and the U.S. Department of Justice says yes. But Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly have said emphatically no, calling an $42,000 emergency session to decree that local governments do not have the authority to offer civil rights protections. "HB2," also known as "Hate Bill 2" and "The Bathroom Bill" not only forbids local jurisdictions from allowing transgender residents to use the public restrooms of their choice, it also strips localities of the right to raise the minimum wage, and strips all residents of North Carolina of the right to file workplace discrimination lawsuits with the state.

In this report, TYT's Eric Byler drills down on the question of safety. He visited "Lobby Day" for Equality North Carolina and the Human Rights Campaign, and spoke to civil rights activists about whose rights, and whose safety, governments should feel the duty to protect.

Liam Johns, a transgender man, recounts a time when he was assaulted for entering the ladies room at a club "looking like a teenage boy." Erica Lachowitz, a transgender woman, recalls having to wall herself up inside a bathroom stall as violent homophobes debated whether or not to attack her. And Candis Cox and Matt Hirschy of Equality NC offer sound arguments that the real and actual dangers facing the transgender community should outweigh the imagined dangers that others might face should sex offenders somehow be inspired by equal rights advancements in the state.

Sen. Buck Newton (R-Wilson), a candidate for Attorney General, and spearhead of the infamous "Bathroom Bill," believes that Charlotte's ordinance would inspire sex offenders to attack people in bathrooms, even though there are no instances of this occurring in other jurisdictions that have transgender civil rights protections in place. What he may not realize is that the safety of transgender citizens is put in jeopardy when they are required to go into the wrong bathroom, as three people in this video attest.