North Carolina is back with a new transphobic bathroom bill. Will MAGA hate win? | Opinion
Republicans have targeted their fear and hate of transgender people so effectively that this North Carolina bill might become real.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: North Carolina Republicans have introduced a bill in the legislature that would bar people from using restrooms that match their gender identity.
If it sounds familiar, it’s because it is. Nine years ago, my home state became a national embarrassment because of a transphobic “bathroom bill” that was signed into law, leading the state to lose an estimated $4 billion in revenue by the end of 2028.
On Tuesday, Senate Republicans introduced Senate Bill 516, titled the “Women’s Safety and Protection Act” – another bill aimed at telling people what bathrooms they can and can’t use.
Clearly, Republicans didn’t learn their lesson the first time, or they've realized that MAGA is winning the culture war over people's lives. Hateful governance only hurts my home state in the long run. What worries me is that they may have found a receptive audience this time around, thanks to President Donald Trump’s consistent messaging that trans people are the enemy.
North Carolina's transphobic history
In March 2016, the North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 2, the “Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act,” in response to a nondiscrimination ordinance that the city of Charlotte had passed that expanded rights for LGBTQ+ North Carolinians.
The bill, signed by then-Gov. Pat McCrory, was met with backlash immediately. The NBA, NCAA and Atlantic Coast Conference all moved games out of the state to protest the bill. Musicians canceled concerts in the state. PayPal canceled an expansion that would have brought 400 jobs to the state. Other corporations condemned the bill.
Ultimately, the backlash cost McCrory his reelection.
The next governor, Roy Cooper, helped usher in legislation that rolled back parts of the bathroom bill in 2017. Still, it wasn't a perfect fix: It also prevented cities from passing new nondiscrimination ordinances until 2020. It wasn’t until then that individual municipalities could protect their trans constituents through the law.
What is in the new bill that Republicans love?
Like the previous law, SB 516 restricts bathroom usage based on a person's sex assigned at birth. It even goes further than the 2016 iteration by preventing trans people from changing their birth certificates or licenses to reflect their gender identity. It applies the bathroom restrictions to a broader range of facilities.
The good news is that North Carolina Democrats are already showing up for their trans neighbors. Anderson Clayton, the chair of the state Democratic Party, said in a statement that the bill “pisses (her) off.”
“Women need the government to step up in a lot of different ways,” Clayton said. “Women do not need Republicans to attack the basic human rights of our transgender community.”
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein is sure to veto the legislation if it passes. Republicans also no longer have a supermajority in North Carolina's House of Representatives, meaning they wouldn’t have the votes to override a veto unless some Democrats cross party lines – which 11 members of the party did when the House bill passed in 2016. Still, the fact that this legislation was even introduced is a testament to how little we’ve learned since our state became a national laughingstock.
The backlash may not come this time because MAGA won
Unfortunately, I’m not sure the backlash will be as swift this time.
According to the Pew Research Center, 49% of Americans now believe that trans people should be required to use the bathroom that corresponds with the sex they were assigned at birth. This is an 8-point increase from 2022 and a terrifying look at how the Trump administration’s full-fledged war on trans people is influencing public opinion.
The corporate elite also seem unable to locate their spines in this moment: We’ve already seen them eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives thanks to Trump. It seems unlikely that any billionaires will sacrifice their relationship with the president to stand up for what is right.
Look, if you can’t deal with people living their lives in a way you disagree with, that’s on you. Transgender people are not hurting anyone by being transgender. They are not plotting and scheming to attack you in the bathroom. They are simply trying to exist – and, just like the rest of us, they still have to pee.
I can see that the bathroom bills harm everyone
Bathroom bills don’t just target trans people. They target anyone who does not fit into rigid gender stereotypes. In February, Kalaya Morton was accosted by male police officers in a Walmart restroom in Arizona. The officers insisted the 19-year-old “looked like a man,” she said, even after she lifted her shirt to prove otherwise.
“It’s already enough being Black and facing discrimination,” Morton told The Advocate. “Now I have to worry about being harassed just for needing to pee?”
North Carolina’s new bathroom bill could open the floodgates for policing how we are all able to exist in public spaces. Like the 2016 legislation, this new Senate bill is a disgrace to the state. We all deserve to use the restroom we feel most comfortable using without fear. If the bill introduced Tuesday passes, it will be a stain on the state’s reputation for years to come.
Follow Paste BN columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno