Opinion: North Carolina needs to recognize LGBT rights

It is 2016 in North Carolina. It is troubling that this editorial needs to be written, but due to the immoral nature in which this state treats persons with LGBT identities, it is necessary.

On the state level, there is no legislation protecting LGBT folks from being denied services at restaurants, bakeries or anywhere else — and there is no policy protecting transgender residents’ right to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identities.

With a conservative state government doing everything in its power to spew a hate-filled agenda, it does not seem like this is going to change any time soon. So thankfully, in places like Charlotte and Chapel Hill, the local governments have decided to exercise their autonomy and create laws that equally protect residents regardless of sexual preference or gender identity — essentially doing what the law tells them to do.

Recently, Charlotte passed a city ordinance that extends current anti-discrimination laws to the LGBT community — we thank the mayor and town council of Charlotte for this and encourage the city to continue looking for ways to protect all its residents.

While this is a small victory and ought to be celebrated, it does little to protect the rest of North Carolina’s LGBT residents living in other municipalities across the state. And it is sure to face much opposition in the state legislative bodies.

Gov. Pat McCrory promised retaliation if the ordinance passed, and he is not the only person trying to keep discrimination in North Carolina. It seems many of the people entrusted to lead this state are in concurrence with him.

Last year, Senate Bill 279 was the first attempt to sneak a clause into an unrelated bill that would restrict local governments from creating anti-discrimination policies, but thankfully the section was removed from the final draft of the bill.

But the leaders in Raleigh are not done. In the aftermath of the Charlotte anti-discrimination decision the N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore has said a special session will be called to deal with the situation.

This proposed session is reflective of the willingness of the state legislator to waste taxpayers’ money to hold a ludicrous and expensive session to enforce an agenda that says not all North Carolinians are equal to one another.

Most of the anger of the bill is directed toward the part allowing transgender residents to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity. Opponents, like Moore and Franklin Graham, claim this will cause some kind of detrimental harm to the women and children of Charlotte.

But there are no physical barriers-to-entry for bathrooms anyway, only emotional ones for those who do not feel protected from hateful people who condemn transgendered people. So even if people improbably wanted to cause harm in bathrooms, this provision would have no impact on their ability to do so. Instead, it provides more protection for more people without this alleged safety problem.

So the fight for equality goes on. While Charlotte was a massive extension of equal treatment within North Carolina, our leaders are still wasting their time and our money to enforce a short-sighted and unempathetic ideology. Make plans to go home and vote if you would like something different.