[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Today I was asked by a friend on Facebook to help explain the different parts of House Bill 2, so here it is![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][gem_youtube width=”100%” video_id=”AZXg9Cj6Pk0″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Transcript:
Hi everyone! Adam is the shadow and the arm reaching in.
So, I got a question from someone who said that they understand that House Bill 2
is the “bathroom law”, but that they know there are other provisions and they get a lot of questions about it, but they don’t actually understand what is.Side note: I would like to say: please excuse my appearance I’m in the midst of taking makeup and stuff off, but wanted to post this now so that everyone can have it.
So, part 1: I really do want to address the bathroom bill – the bathroom portion, as people call it, or public accommodations, single sex, multiple occupancy bathroom and changing facilities.
By the way, if you’re wondering: HB2, I
have my own personal copies of it that I carry around with me in case I get questions, and I’ve been getting a lot.So the problem is that it says that no person may access a facility in a public facility that is regulated by the government, by the North Carolina government, so that is things like rest stops, airports, a Legislative Building, DMV, etc. “No person may access the restroom that does not correspond with their biological sex.”
House Bill 2 is so helpful because it then goes on to actually tell us what “biological sex” means and that is: the sex as defined on your birth certificate.
I just want to very quickly point out that is actually not how we define people’s biological sex or gender in this country, but here in North Carolina, with house bill 2, that is. So just to give you an example: I for instance, on my driver’s license, passport, marriage license, here in North Carolina – prior to amendment one being passed – says
female, but my birth certificate, which is from New York state, says male. Even though I’ve undergone sexual reassignment surgery. So, based on the law here in North Carolina I have to use the men’s restrooms… Y’all think that’s gonna happen?Alright, so the other parts: “The statewide consistency in laws related to employment and contracting”. That part, which is part two, is not super duper offensive if you just take it for what it says… until you really think about it. So, the problem is that no local government – so Wake County for instance, because they receive some of their funding from the General Assembly, they are not completely self-sufficient of… whomever… and this is just as an example, but no one may increase the wages above what the State sets as minimum wage. No one may require special accommodations as a condition for bidding if they are contracting work out. What I find interesting about part two, and this is the part that’s bad for me, first of all it states, and I’m going to give this to you verbatim: “The General Assembly declares that the general welfare of the state requires the enactment of this law under the police power of the state.” Republicans. I just want to point that out for those of you that don’t understand that one of the main basic things of our GOP are Republicans – by the way “GOP” for those of you that don’t know, stands for “Good Old Party” or “Grand Old Party”, either way it sounds stupid. But it’s interesting because Republicans believe that less government is better, so the government should not be meddling in people’s business and yet you’re enacting this for police power
but then it says that the General Assembly shall have no jurisdiction in
telling local governments and jurisdictions, or shall not have jurisdiction in local governments, and tell them what to do, except they can’t raise wages and such economic development incentives awarded under Chapter I, blah blah. Which is all through the General Assembly, so pretty much if you work for a local government in the state of North Carolina you’re not going to get anything in terms of compensation unless the state says that you are even though States not going to tell the local governments what to do.I met McCrory, I am the person he met with, I’m the only trans/LGBT person he met with and I got to tell you the man is stupid and he signed this thing – also, side note again, he actually said to me, admitted, that he did not read House Bill 2 before he signed it.
All right, for part 3: “The protection of rights and employment and public accommodations”. So, pretty much, it states what protections you have in your employment and public accommodations. So people cannot be denied services and public accommodations and employment is protected based on certain rights. Prior to house bill 2, the general rule that was accepted or what the public accommodations are is race, gender, national origin, religion, and sex. The problem with this is that it redefines it. Oh, also veteran status. The problem with House Bill 2 is it redefines what is considered protective rights, so if you’re a veteran you aren’t protected. Interestingly enough, the largest
military installation in the continental United States is right here in North Carolina, but if you’re a veteran you’re not protected in your employment or public accommodations. Also, gender is redefined as biological sex, so you’re only protected if what you’re
claiming to be discrimination aligns with what’s on your birth certificate. So, if I say I’m being discriminated against as a transgender woman they would say “no you’re not because your birth certificate says your man” and they’re not discriminating against me as a man. That doesn’t make sense to me but I digress.Also, it says that any claims of discrimination based on biological sex in terms of being denied access to public restroom facilities, changing facilities, locker rooms, that is not discrimination. It actually says that! It says that if you were denied, for whatever reason, to use a locker room – so let’s say I go to the airport, I walk into the women’s restroom and they call the RDU police and the police go in there and they bring me out in handcuffs, in front of everyone, I miss my flight, and I get arrested and charged and everything, I have not been discriminated against. Also, if I do think that I’ve been discriminated against in employment, public accommodations, even for something that is protected, say age, I cannot bring a civil action against them, so it means I can’t go to court, instead I have to go to the Human Relations Commission with the Department of
Administration and they will investigate whether or not I’ve been discriminated against for something that they now cover. So, yeah, so a little messed up a little
complicated.Finally, the last part of it is the effective date and the superseding so House Bill 2 states that it supersedes any laws that the state had that this covers, any local government things that this sort of, kind of, covers, it says that no one can pass anything that is above this. So the city of Raleigh cannot pass more protective rights for people so they can’t put veteran status back in there because it’s not in here with the General Assembly. And the effective date is, in the General Assembly read-through times, ratified 23rd day of March 2016. They implemented this thing immediately. Here’s what’s really good, we’re all the way at the end… nowhere in it does it state how any of
these things will be policed, how they’ll be enforced, what is the penalty for it, there’s also zero accommodations or acknowledgement of any rights that would be given to transgender people or any member of LGBTQ, or veterans, so essentially House Bill 2 says if you’re a veteran and you’re denied access you’re screwed. When someone says they won’t hire you because you’re a veteran and your old you’re screwed. Also the protective rights are only for places that employ 15 people or more… just random, throwing it in there. if you’re transgender and your birth certificate’s not changed, regardless of what you have done, regardless of what any other documentation says, you are, in the eyes of the law of the state of North Carolina, seen as the gender that corresponds with your birth certificate. so once again, just to clarify, and we’re going to be a little blunt here: I have breasts, I have a vagina, I am married to a cis-gender heterosexual man but I’m a man, in the eyes of house bill 2, some of the Republican leadership in this state, and a lot of rednecks. And then, our government, our local governments, cannot do anything to make life a little bit easier for their employees if the General Assembly does not deem
that to be appropriate.So there is a very rudimentary short explanation of what House Bill 2 is.
Please send in questions. I’m sorry that I’m so tired right now, and caught off guard. I’m dealing with the NBA stuff and right now the RNC, and today is Trump’s official accepting of the nomination for the presidency of the United States for the republican party… so I’m just a little hair-brained and have to quit. Please send in more questions that you want me to talk about. I try to be an open book and usually I’m a lot more animated and entertaining than this. And believe it or not, on camera I try to
talk a little bit more succinct, so thank you guys. Thank you for the question and everyone have a really great night and weekend and stay cool this week, it’s supposed to be almost 100 degrees in the triangle.
