Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Nice Try, Pat

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) tried to clarify the law that he signed that stomps on LGBT rights in that state with an executive order.

The law still prohibits — and, in fact, McCrory affirmed that it prohibits — trans people from using the bathroom in schools and government buildings that matches their gender identity. And the law still blocks cities and counties from legally banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace, housing, and public accommodations. These provisions remain untouched, regardless of any new protections for state government employees.

In fact, the executive order mostly seems to reiterate what the law already allows. Under the law, it’s already legal for private employers to set their own bathroom and locker room policies, and local governments and private employers can already set up their own nondiscrimination policies for their own employees. There was zero doubt about this prior to the executive order.

So these are not the problems with the law. Again, the actual criticisms are about the anti-trans bathroom law for schools and government buildings and the ban on cities and counties passing nondiscrimination laws for LGBTQ people. If anything, the executive order doubles down on the former.

As the American Civil Liberties Union put it, the executive order “is a band-aid on a brain hemorrhage.”

The real solution is to repeal the law and stop obsessing about what other people do when they pee.

One bark on “Nice Try, Pat

Comments are closed.