More and more, acceptance of the LGBT community is becoming the favored stand in politics. A known Conservative judge just recently ruled against an anti-LGBT law that requires students and staff of the University of North Carolina (UNC) to use the bathroom of their assigned gender from birth.
The Washington Post reports that U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder made a surprising decision when he took the side of three transgenders involved in a pending lawsuit. The Conservative judge forbade the UNC to implement some provisions of the House Bill 2 (HB2) that disallow transgenders to use the restrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify to.
Judge Schroeder emphasized that transgenders don't pose any threat to anyone's safety because there is no evidence that their homosexuality makes them "more likely to engage in predatory behaviors than other segments of the population." Their rights should be honored and protected as well.
As per Huffington Post, HB2 was signed by North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory last March that offered no protection for LGBT discrimination. The bill banned discrimination among businesses and companies on the basis of color, country of origin, race, religion, age or "biological" sex. It stands as the state's standards and no local governments can pass any nondiscrimination policy that goes beyond the HB2's scope which currently does not enclose the LGBT community.
Gov. McCrory has since received backlash from signing the said anti-LGBT law and has been suffering from polls on his re-election bid for North Carolina governor against rival Roy Cooper. To add fuel to the fire, he has released a controversial ad early this week that implies transgenders are involved in child molestation and rape (via WRAL).
The ad was titled "The Truth About Roy Cooper" and features a sexual assault victim, Gina Little. She recalls, "At nine, I was molested by a teenager...When I found out that President Obama and Roy Cooper want to force school children to share the same locker room, shower and restroom with someone who claims to be the opposite sex, I was horrified." This drew criticism because it clearly implied that transgenders are potential child molesters.
Early on May, Democrat Roy Cooper announced his opposition of the HB2 law. He said that the anti-LGBT law has negatively affected North Carolina's economy and reputation. "Set politics aside and undo this discriminatory law now," he said as quoted by Towel Road.
In your opinion, what is the state of acceptance of the LGBT community in North Carolina and American society? Sound off your thoughts in the Comments section and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.
