North Carolina, under heavy pressure from LGBT activists and organizations nationwide, finally repealed their controversial HB2 "Bathroom Law"...sorta kinda. HB2 made it a law in North Carolina that everyone must use the public restroom that matches their BIRTH gender, which was seen as discriminatory against transgender individuals.
The bill has been under constant fire since being passed last year. Several concerts were cancelled in North Carolina as a protest against the law, and the NCAA was threatening to pull all tournament and championship games from the state until 2022 as an essential boycott against it.
So this is a HUGE win for the LGBT community right? Not so fast, my friend. Really, just a PART of the bill is being repealed, as a compromise with those in favor of it.
While the "bathroom bill" was the most highly publicized part of HB2, there's also a provision in the bill that prevents local jurisdictions from setting up their own anti-discrimination policies. That part of the bill is still very much in existence.
So, essentially, while it overturns the policy about public bathrooms, it also disallows individual local governments from implementing LGBT-friendly and anti-discrimination policies. Only the state can pass those ordinances.
Those in favor of keeping HB2 intact say that the bill protects young girls from being the victim of potential sexual predators in public restrooms. Those who oppose the bill claim that fear is unsubstantiated and therefore shouldn't be part of creating a law.
Needless to say, it doesn't appear we've heard the last of HB2, or the protests against the state of North Carolina.
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