As terrible a law as House Bill 2 is, it sure does drive web trafficand tons and tons of comments. (Uh, thanks, Pat?)
Lori Stewart writes: “I get the impression some think this anti-transgender kind of law is constitutional. Not so. This is well-founded law, meaning discrimination ‘based on sex’ has long been found to protect transgender people. It will take only one Title IX or Civil Rights Act complaint to give the Republicans some perspective.”
“Pretty much everyone has this wrong,” argues Alan Light. “Transgender people ought to be able to use the facilities they prefer, especially in government buildings. But the rest of the bill was an attack on freedom of association. Business owners ought to be allowed to discriminate against anyone they wish, provided they provide a written notice in a prominent place.”
Commenter cleverweist1 says that Governor McCrory “is not an embarrassment to me as a Christian. I just wish Christians would stand up for what they believe and not be bullied. I think it is about time our government got a backbone and just said no. Enough is enough. It is not discrimination. It is anti-Christian bullies trying to push their sick beliefs on the rest of us.”
Former INDY staff writer Barry Yeoman’s essay, about the parallels between this legislation and a culture-war battle in Charlotte twenty years ago, elicited this response from Cristel Gutschenritter Orrand: “I sat in the Senate and watched this get passed with prejudice and disdain in twenty minutes. The disregard this legislature has shown to human rights, dignity, taxpayer money, facts, the Constitution, and history will be a slow healing and massive scar upon this state.”
Even the INDY‘s most stalwart online critic, ProudlyUnaffiliated, had nice words for Yeoman: “When Barry comes out of retirement to write for the INDY, we need to listen to his insight and honesty. Agree with him or not, his integrity is rock solid. But I am not even close, even after reading his article, as to why any of this has any importance in North Carolina or anywhere else. Look, these are bathrooms, for heaven’s sake. We go in to relieve ourselves or wash our hands or comb our hair or splash water on our face or whatever. This is not a civil rights issue.”
Want to see your name in bold? Email us at backtalk@indyweek.com, comment on INDYweek.com or our Facebook page, or hit us up on Twitter: @indyweek.
