Legislature should start over on HB2-related issues
Published April 14, 2016
Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, April 14, 2016.
Gov. Pat McCrory's executive order on the controversial N.C. House Bill 2 was a baby step in the right direction. Much more modification is needed, however, to rein in this overly broad statewide law that was a massive overreaction to a Charlotte ordinance on bathrooms.
In announcing his executive order on HB2's sweeping regulations, McCrory said he was taking action “after listening to people's feedback for the past several weeks on this issue.” Maybe it would have been wise for the governor to have listened to feedback before he signed the bill into law on the same day it was rushed through the General Assembly.
Like it or not, issues surrounding sexual and gender identity are at the forefront of our national debate.
They are complex and sensitive issues, many affecting people who have been at best routinely discriminated against and at worst persecuted most of their lives.
Any legislation surrounding such issues deserves thoughtful and deliberate debate. The Honorables gave us just the opposite.
The bathroom debate is not as simple as “parts-is-parts.”
As we've said before in this space, we believe a reasonable solution can be found that doesn't mean high school kids of the opposite sex are taking showers together after gym class.
We also think it's common sense to have separate men's and women's restrooms. That's how we do it here at the StarNews.
We do know, however, that as strange and wrong as it may seem to some folks, there are people born with male sexual organs who identify as and live their entire lives as women. The same holds true for people born with female sexual organs.
There are biological females who — by use of hormones and other techniques — may look exactly like a man with a beard. Same for men who are transgender.
April 14, 2016 at 10:47 am
Richard L Bunce says:
The principle is quit simple, the City of Charlotte does not have the power to change the State restroom use law with a City Ordinance. In NC the State Legislature creates State Chartered Municipal Corporations with very limited powers as defined in State Statute and each municipal Charter. Instead of jumping into the political mess started by the City Council the Legislature should have simply informed the City that their ordinance is not valid and if they attempt to enforce it over State law they will revoke the City Charter.
Charlotte did not pass a law, only the Legislature can do that. The City passed an Ordinance on a topic they had not been given the power to determine by the State Legislature.
