North Carolina's Shocking Anti-Trans Bill Means We're Fighting Harder

Open letter to trans community from National Center for Transgender Equality

"Yesterday, North Carolina's government spent just half a day jamming through a dangerous anti-trans bill. They overturned the LGBT protections that Charlotte's city council just passed a month ago.

"But that wasn't enough for them.

"They also made it state law that people must use bathrooms in all public buildings according to the gender on their birth certificate. That includes public schools and universities. That includes all major airports. That includes government-run hospitals, libraries, DMVs, state and county courthouses, parks, and historic sites.

"Make no mistake: this is terrible news. North Carolina has just written mandatory government discrimination into its law. You have every right to be angry. You have every right to be upset. You have every right to feel completely let down by the people who are supposed to be acting in your best interest.

"This just means we're going to keep fighting, and we're fighting all the harder.

"The national trans community is with you. We're all standing behind trans North Carolinians and your loved ones. We're going to work together to minimize the impact this has on people's lives. And we're going to make it clear to the government of North Carolina that legalizing discrimination is a huge mistake.

"There are state government officials on our side – North Carolina's Attorney General, Roy Cooper, said yesterday that legalizing discrimination like this is "shameful." We're working on reaching out to mayors' offices, city councils, and local government agencies to get support and to let them know what's going on.

"NCTE will shortly release resources so you know how this law impacts you and what you can do about it. These will include information about federal laws that protect your rights, such as for schools. You'll have those later today.

"Here's what you can do if you're in North Carolina:

• Take care of yourself and the trans people around you.
• Find a bathroom you can use and add to the list of safe bathrooms.
• Storm social media with the hashtags #WeAreNotThis and #KeepNCFair.
• Contact the ACLU of North Carolina.
• Contact your legislators to let them know how disappointed you are.
• Contact Gov. McCrory to let him know how disappointed you are.
• Write an op-ed for your local paper. Contact us if you need help.
• Go to a rally:
• Asheville, 5 p.m.
• Raleigh, 5:45 p.m.
• (Others are likely to be announced later.)

"And here's what to do if you're outside of the state:

• Take care of yourself and the trans people around you.
• Storm social media with the hashtags #WeAreNotThis and #KeepNCFair.
• Contact Gov. McCrory. Let him know that the rest of the nation is watching, and that we won't stand for mandatory government discrimination in North Carolina."

The National Center for Transgender Equality is the nation's leading social justice advocacy organization winning life-saving change for transgender people. As a national social justice organization, NCTE is devoted to ending discrimination and violence against transgender people through education and advocacy on national issues of importance to transgender people.