On 22 February 2016, a non-discrimination ordinance was passed in Charlotte, North Carolina to a vote of 7-4. This ordinance added to Charlotte's other non-discriminatory ones, this time adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of race, age, religion, and sex. Businesses and taxis would no longer be allowed to discriminate based on those two features. This also gave transgender people the right to use the bathroom that corresponds most with their gender. This was to go into effect 1 April.

However, before it could become law in the city of Charlotte, the General Assembly called a special session, instead of waiting for the short session on 25 April. The special session costs $42,000 per day, in which North Carolinian residents will pay for out of their tax money.

With a majority of Republicans sitting in the General Assembly, they overruled the ordinance. Although the biggest fuss was with the bathroom usage of transgender individuals, Republicans did not stop their overruling there. They continued on to dismiss the non-discrimination part, effecting allowing businesses in Charlotte to continue to discriminate against people based off of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The assault on the ordinance did not stop there. The General Assembly placed restrictions everywhere else in North Carolina, blocking any local area from passing non-discrimination ordinances for the LGBT+ community, which includes bathroom usage.

They mandated that citizens must use the bathroom of the sex that is on their birth certificate. The process of changing sex on legal documents is very complicated, and (usually) requires a sex-changing surgery. The basis of these laws is to keep women and children protected from sexual predators. Places which do allow transgender individuals to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender experience very low to non-existent problems regarding women and children. However, it does nothing to protect transgender/transsexual individuals from being assaulted, as trans women (male to female) are at a high risk of being assaulted in the men's bathroom.

As the number of Republicans outweigh the number of Democrats in the General Assembly, both houses voted to overturn this ordinance and to place the other restrictions. Democrats in the Senate reported not being able to properly participate in this process, and walked out in protest.

Many citizens and advocates find bill to be restrictive of civil rights in North Carolina, and talk about taking the bill to court has quickly spread across the state. Only time will tell what is to become of this ordinance.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article61786967.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/north-carolina-lgbt-discrimination-transgender-bathrooms/475125/

(I would suggest taking a look at the second link, as the General Assembly also touched up on a few other topics, such as minimum wage and schools.)

If you have gotten this far, thank you for your interest.

I thought the education department is always lacking budget and now they spend 42k on this debacle. ~~
Bathrooms problem aside, I think they're going overboard with the safe school programs (the ones debating about it aren't even LGBT).

maybe they should make new bathrooms (joking)

but forrealz, that was a HUGE waste of money and helped no one, what did thdy gain from that??

This gender stuff is getting out of hand man.
Safe space things are going to real dumb, but wasting actual money on something that isn't as important as the actual issues in the schools is unbelievable.

>>4
Some are doing that.
Waste of time, space and money.

My opinion? Don't spend time with making new bathrooms. Just let the people pee.

transgenders are mentally ill

cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/johns-hopkins-psychiatrist-transgender-mental-disorder-sex-change

This should not be saw as a civil rights issue ,it is a mental condition that can and in time will be fixed with medicine.
The truth may hurt but truth isn't always nice

>>8
That's over-generalization. But anyway, valid points:

-most children with gender confusion naturally lose that feeling with time

-everything is about personal perception, no point in forcing gender as an objective truth to the whole world

-the stigma is not the trans people, but rather the environment promoting "coming out" and the like, encouraging them to think in black and white and rushing things up before they could even think

-it should be noted that high suicide rate may be related to the expectacy promoted by media and the like instead of the actual discrimination

-hormones should not be administered to children, because they might change their mind later



Further problem is trying to conduct any kind of study in this field is a high hurdle. Too much censorship and public booing.

>>9
while I agree with most of those points I still believe gender isn't and never will be mental.
Gender is determined by sex chromosomes you are either xy or xx there is nothing else.
Transgenders are ill and need to be cured.

>>10
Sex is XX and XY. Gender is social. What society classifies as masculine and feminine.

>>11 Very nice.:)
Gender vs Sex
Tell me if the link doesn't work.
This is a relevant article on the topic--> http://usuncut.com/resistance/north-carolina-anti-lgbt-bathroom-law/

It doesn't, I'm sorry about that. The URL is
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Gender_vs_Sex

>>11 Eh, each to our own opinions. I also believe there is no such thing as gender -- there is only male and female, as defined by our sex chromosomes (with exceptions).

On the topic of the actual news report(s):

With regards to allowing transgender people to use whatever bathroom they feel best corresponds to their gender, I am against that. The reason being, I would not be comfortable with a man in women's bathroom (or change room).
There are enough perverts in the world: http://www.torontosun.com/2014/02/15/shocking-case-proves-tobys-law-is-flawed and also this one I believe it was that I heard about some time ago http://thevarsity.ca/2015/10/25/where-ucs-response-to-voyeurism-went-wrong-2/

Yes, this makes for a bad reputation and outlook on the transgender community. And I can see how those two news reports I linked could be "shot down" with arguments.

So let me ask this: where is my right to feel safe and comfortable in washrooms/change rooms? Why do I have to accept having a man (especially one who hasn't undergone hormone therapy and/or sex-change surgery) in women's washrooms/change rooms?

Smarter thing to do would be to designate washrooms and change rooms specifically for transgender people (e.g., those so-called "gender neutral washrooms and change rooms" I've read about). Not allow transgenders to use their bathroom of choice. (Imagine those who are "gender fluid" -- today they feel "male" and tomorrow they feel "female" -- what that would mean if we allowed them to use a bathroom for their "gender" choice.)

It's not about "social stereotypes" or whatever else, nor about "discrimination". It's about morality and decency.

That's my opinion.

>>14
Well, currently here's the logic they're playing by:
Since cisgender people (abaolutely redundant) don't go comitting suicide even if the bathrooms are mixed, they just have to suck it up.
It's like they're trying to eliminate whatever consequences come for transitioning.
Call me cruel, but I don't think that's ok. Society rejects whatever is 'different' from them, that's the harsh truth. If you teach your kids that the world is kind blablabla, that only applies to Western countries. What will happen in the rest of the world?

>>15
Oh I know that, but that kind of logic fails in its entirety, that's why I don't even accept that "argument" as a valid reason.

Yes, that's true, and I agree with you -- the world was, is, and I'm pretty damn sure, will always be like that. So long as the societal norms are what they are, it's not the "cisgender" people that need to adapt to transgender people (or the LGBT+ community for that matter). They made that choice, they have to live with the consequences that come with those choices. At least that would be the logical way to think IMO *shrugs*

>>16
Please don't think that I'm arguing with you, but I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by they made the choice. I don't think being trans is a conscious choice, and it's much more an internal feeling that's alway been present.

>>17
No worries, I know you're not! :)

And I say 'choice' because it's my opinion that one simply isn't born the wrong sex (or gender; I use them interchangeably, see >>14 the very beginning); in other words, I believe that it's very much a conscious choice to become transgender. I don't believe it when they say "I was born like this," there's no such thing. The 'feeling' that they aren't the right sex comes from the environment they are exposed to, it is not an intrinsic feeling and most certainly not genetic.

>>17
What gender you are might not be a choice. It's not something you're born with either.
Transitioning is a choice. Hormonal therapies and gender reassignment surgeries is a choice. Saying that it's not is plain hypocritical.

*I like picking fights, btw. So if you feel offended, it's probably true.

>>16
Are you also saying that being anything but heterosexual is a choice? I don't wish to assume.

>>14
>>16
at this there is still some common sense here
but beside that this whole thread is absolutely disgusting

Bump

>>21
Yes, in my opinion, being transgender, gay, lesbian, etc., is a choice, you aren't born like that. It's the result of the environment you are raised in, not biological/genetic in nature. Again, in my opinion.

>>22
Trust me when I say this: it is not a choice, some people may call it mental illness or the way their environment effects them, but so does everything in our life and for someone who has dealt with the dilemma of sexuality trust me it is not and never will be a choice

>>25
That's your opinion and belief. I can't agree with it, but you are more than entitled to it.