Conservatives have been using public restrooms as a ridiculous tool for building opposition to progressive legislation at least since the dawn of the civil rights movement. Potty panic was first used to scare while people who were afraid to pee next to black people. Later, the threat of “unisex bathrooms” was used to help defeat the Equal Rights Amendment.
And now, North Carolina has passed legislation that is ostensibly based on making sure that people use the appropriate restroom based on their “biological sex.”
But it ain’t about bathrooms. Not by a long shot.
In addition to the bathroom regulations, which are a small part of the package, the ironically named Equal Access to Public Accommodations Act will:
- Prohibit cities from passing nondiscrimination ordinances that do not match the state law, which excludes protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as protections based on veteran status, etc.
- Impede or eliminate the right to sue based on discrimination categories that still are protected.
- Supersede any local regulations on hiring contractors that do not mirror state law.
- Prohibit any local ordinance that would raise the local minimum wage (of which, to date, there have been exactly…none).
See what they did with that last one? Not sure how it fits into all this? No, neither is anyone else.
Once again, this is not about the fucking bathrooms. The sponsors of this legislation couldn’t care less about the bathrooms, but they know that their base will, by and large, not take the time to pay attention to what the law is really about.
This is a power grab passed in the dark of night by a rural, conservative legislature that, thanks to gerrymandering, no longer reflects the increasingly urban, moderate population of the state. it’s the next logical step by a legislature that has usurped local authority in setting city council districts, attempted a hostile takeover of a major urban airport, and engaged in unconstitutional redistricting.
We’re engaged in a war here.
