North Carolina took a small step today towards undoing its disgraceful HB2 legislation passed by the state’s Republican legislature back in 2016 as an effort to stop Charlotte’s attempt to allow trans people to use the bathroom matching their gender identity. Per a consent decree today, the state has agreed that no provision in HB2’s successor, HB142, can be read to prohibit trans people from using the bathroom matching their gender identity.
Two cheers for small victories! It would of course mean a lot more if HB142 weren’t such a crappy law. Although it was advertised by the legislature as a repeal to HB2, thank you, all done discriminating, it did nothing of the sort. The replacement – and these things are still part of state law - locks into place an explicit refusal to offer employment and other civil rights protections to LGBTQ individuals in state law, and it forbids other governmental entities in the state (cities, schools, universities) from going further on other employment laws. So this is very much a partial victory.
In the meantime, one of the original architects of HB2, the egregious state senator Dan Bishop, is running for the state’s currently vacant House of Representatives seat. Why is this seat vacant? Well, the state elections board refused to certify the results of last election because of serious issues with ballot tampering emanating from Republican Mark Harris’ campaign (see here, and here to get started). So we get a do-over. Harris decided not to run for health reasons and now we have Bishop, who won the Republican primary between himself and a guy who honestly liked to dress up as Boss Hogg. And who is Dan Bishop?
Well, Bishop racked up a proud record in the State Senate (I’m just reciting some of the Wikipedia page, which has links as well as more examples of bad behavior): he proudly sponsored legislation that prevented citizens damaged by agribusiness pollution from recovering damages. He called the Raleigh press corps the “jihad media.” He said Black Lives Matter was like Neo-Nazis, “both violent, racist movements” (presumably, with many fine people!). Oh, and he proudly sponsored HB2 and said later that he stood up to the “radical transgender agenda,” while privately referring to LGBT activists as the “Taliban.”
Now, after lots of folks think HB2 cost Republican governor Pat McRory re-election? Not so much. Was the bill perfect? Well, opines Bishop, “lots of things can happen in legislation that doesn’t turn out to be perfect when a controversy started” and all bills can be improved. Good to know! And besides, this was soooo long ago: “the media fascination with this is endless, but voters have long since tired of the endless controversy that has been mostly media manufactured.” Silly jihadist reporters!
But wait. Did anyone speak out against the HB2 repeal? Yes! In fact one state senator spoke up on the floor against it. That would be Our Hero, who said that “this [repeal] bill is at best a punt; at worst it is a betrayal of principle.”
Brave, Brave Sir Bishop! He may yet win the election; the district is a horrendous gerrymander, one of the ones that SCOTUS declined to fix last term. But let’s not let him bravely run away from his disgraceful performance the last time he got to be in a legislative body.
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