Gay rights groups filing federal lawsuit against NC's anti-LGBT law.
It looks like the most heinous attack on gay rights is FINALLY being challenged!
A law school professor, a university worker, a student, and several civil liberties groups are challenging the law that was signed last week. The law would give people the right to discriminate against people who were LGBT. The law would also force trans individuals to use bathrooms assigned to their biological sex. Governor Pat McCrory signed the anti-LGBT law, which is scheduled to go into effect next month.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Equality NC, and Lambda Legal, wasted no time filing a federal lawsuit against the anti-LGBT law.
"By singling out LGBT people for disfavored treatment and explicitly writing discrimination against transgender people into state law, (the new law) violates the most basic guarantees of equal treatment and the U.S. Constitution."
UNC-Chapel Hill worker Joaquin Carcano, and UNC-Greensboro student Payton Grey McGarry were born females, but identify as males. In the lawsuit, they said that being forced to use the women's bathroom would cause substantial harm to their mental health. They also stated that if they were forced to disclose to people that they are transgender in the bathroom, it will put them at risk for harassment and physical violence.
My Two Cents:
Look at the following statistics:
With laws, such as the ones passed in NC and Georgia, these stats are going to increase. If trans individuals, like Joaquin and Payton, are forced to use the bathroom of their biological sex and are forced to tell people that they are trans, more violence is going to take place.
One of my dearest friends is trans, and I've spoken about her before. She has been through hell and back in her journey. If she is in a situation where she is forced to use a bathroom according to her biological sex, it is not only going to kill her inside, it will probably put her at a high risk of being assaulted.
If you research and look at the stats of trans individuals who have been killed, or have committed suicide, you will see that this is a huge problem. Just like all of us, my friends just want to pee. We have all peed in the same bathroom as someone who is trans, it just wasn't as apparent as it is now.
We are all human beings, and we have the god-given right to be safe. The trans community is not violent. The rest of the LGBT community is not violent. I'm in the LGBT community, and I'm not violent (I will defend myself if need be, but I doubt anyone will harass a cripple such as myself).
The anti-LGBT law needs to be overturned. I hope that this lawsuit pushes Governor McCrory to see the error in his ways.
Trans individuals are at risk for being beat up, harassed, assaulted, raped, and even killed. Trans individuals of color are the highest risk group. We need to protect the trans community. The harassment, the bullying, all of it has to end.
Gov McCrory, I once lived in your state. It was a lovely state. I may live up in CT now, but I care about the people that you are discriminating against with this law. Everyone has the right to live their truth. Please do the right thing.
Here are some statistics that you all should know so you can better understand the discrimination the LGBT community endures in this country. The discrimination did not stop when gay marriage became legal. While it's an amazing feat, we still have a long ways to go until we are equal. That anti-LGBT bill in NC shows you how bad things continue to be for us:
