Once upon a time in North Carolina, if you saw a man going into a women’s restroom, you had good reasons to be suspicious, and likely call the police. But now, in a bold move whose brilliance can only be compared to Wile E. Coyote’s decision to use nitroglycerin in the fuel tank of his Rocket-Powered Road Runner Catcher, a gang of conservative legislators, with the avid assistance of the governor, has railroaded through a law requiring trans men to use the women’s facilities. (Nor is that the only serious flaw in this badly-botched attempt at persecuting a harmless minority!) You read that right: this new law requires certain men to use the ladies room.
Now, people capable of engaging in rational thought for more that one or two seconds at a time will immediately realize that trans men look no different than any other men, in most cases. By requiring trans men to use the ladies room, the idiots in the NC state government have given all men a plausible excuse for being in the ladies room. They don’t even need to pretend to be trans. And if a real cis-het rapist were to decide to take advantage of the state government’s stupidity, all he would need to do is make sure to select his targets carefully, and only invade the rest room when the woman there would be unlikely to challenge his presence until it was too late. And thanks to the NC governor and his knuckle-dragging henchmen, there is now a legitimate opportunity for him to do so.
You know what? I take back what I said. Wile E. Coyote is WAY smarter than these Stone Age “geniuses.”
Naked Bunny with a Whip says
Apparently the legislators are under the impression that stores have been carding people for bathroom access?
MikeMa says
Carding almost certainly isn’t enough. Stores (or other public restroom facilities) will need to check birth certificates! And do genital inspections!
So this isn’t discriminatory OR stupid. Its a jobs bill. Thousands will be hired to determine the bathroom you are required to use. Secondary examination areas will need to be built fueling a construction growth in NC as well. Those sneaky republicans…
Pierce R. Butler says
The ACLU, Lambda Legal, and Equality North Carolina have already filed suit to overturn this law:
MikeMa says
Good they have reacted so quickly. It would be nice to see this blocked in infancy as a warning to other states but that really isn’t a valid expectation anymore with the tea party willing to spend taxpayer money on unwinnable lawsuits.