NC Lawmakers Spend $42k to Talk About Toilets

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>>482841795_7321c9bcbd_oCiting privacy and safety concerns for those using restrooms in Charlotte, the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives is attempting to call a special session of the legislature.

The Charlotte City Council recently passed a law that allows people in the city to use the bathroom that most closely matches their gender. Speaker Tim Moore is completely freaked out. And why? Because Charlotte is offering basic human rights to its trans* residents. What monsters!

So Moore is trying to get the votes he needs to re-open to big offices in Raleigh in order to overturn the law. It will take ⅗ of the lawmakers in both the House and Senate to convene the special session. According to Moore, the House vote has been secured and he’s awaiting the Senate.

And if they get the votes, what next? Probably sad political theater during which a handful of legislators beg the rest to consider how terrible they are being. The cost of recalling all the legislators and their staff to Raleigh? $42,000 a day.

The >>Charlotte City Council non-discrimination ordinance allows LGBT citizens equal rights under the law. This means LGBT men and women cannot be discriminated against in any way — including in job hiring, education, or access to facilities.

In a completely measured and not-at-all-hyperbolic statement, >>Governor Pat McCrory recently called the new law a threat to safety and privacy for women and children.

As a mom — and woman — let me say right now, Governor McCrory: I’m good. My rights end where they infringe on others’. And keeping anyone who identifies as a woman out of a women’s bathroom is completely an assault on that woman’s rights.

Personally, I don’t see why single-room bathrooms, or even those with stalls, need to be unisex. All the private action takes place behind closed doors. But I accept that seeing a burly man standing at the sink >>could be triggering for some who have suffered assault and need a safe or private space. Or it could pose a challenge to people of certain religious faiths.

But we’re not talking about burly men hanging out in the ladies’. We’re talking about women and men who deserve a right to use the facilities they need. No one lightly undergoes gender reassignment or begins passing as a gender other than that they were born with. This is not about perversion or wanting access to the inner sanctums of the women’s locker room.

This is about fairness. But our legislature does not agree. And apparently, in pursuit of a fake moral imperative, they are willing to spend money that could go towards classroom supplies or teacher salaries. How does this make sense? $42,000 a day for an indefinite amount of time just to take away the rights of a small group of NC citizens? Is this real life?




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  1. Dawn M. Goodman

    NC Lawmakers should volunteer their time to discuss the Transgender toilet issue in Charlotte. The state does not have 42K to waste on political drama. Some of the tax dollars they will be wasting for this session come from workers who pay payroll taxes for unemployment benefits from their paychecks. Who are currently punished for being laid off from work by being given $24.00 a week unemployment benefits allowance. Where is the rest of the money that’s collected for unemployment benefits going.


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