There is a scary trend sweeping Republican controlled states. Bills are popping up all over to legalize discrimination and take away LGBT rights, and they are targeting transgender people specifically.
South Carolina Senator Lee Bright introduced a bill that is strikingly similar to the one recently signed into law in North Carolina. The issue it addresses is restroom use; Bright expressed disgust with the idea of “men” using women’s restrooms:
“I’ve about had enough of this. I mean, years ago we kept talking about tolerance…And now they want men who claim to be women to be able to go into bathrooms with children. And you got corporations who say this is OK.”
Bright’s remarks are ignorant, hate-fueled, and grammatically incorrect. The bill will most likely be met with the public outrage that we have seen in North Carolina and Mississippi. Businesses that support LGBT rights are also refusing to do business in these states. The bigotry and fear that these bills embody are outdated.
The bill proposed by Bright largely mimics the N.C. law, which was a reaction to the City of Charlotte passing an ordinance which protected transgender men and women from discrimination, and allowed them to use the restroom of the gender with which they identify.
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed a bill Tuesday that allows businesses to discriminate against customers who are part of the LGBT community.
Members of the LGBT community are facing increasing discrimination in Republican controlled states. The public eye was shifted away from LGBT issues last year after the SCOTUS ruling which legalized same-sex marriage across the country, but the fight for LGBT rights did not end there. These bills that infringe on the rights of transgender people are a threat to everyone’s freedoms, and they are drawing attention again for LGBT discrimination.
President Obama set an example for discriminatory states by setting up the first inclusive restroom in the White House.
Unfortunately, Democrats have little to no control in South Carolina, and nothing is stopping Gov. Nikki Haley from signing Bright’s bill into law.
Featured image via Flickr, available under a Creative Commons license.
