@runswimyoga sorry to hear about your son’s friend’s situation. UNC did try to convert some housing to gender neutral and our wonderful legislators jumped in the middle of that and shot it down. I don’t get it. It’s very common in other countries to have suite-style housing with a mix of students. At least the faculty and students and the surrounding community will be supportive - Chapel Hill has always been one of the more accepting cities in the state.
I was really sad to see this, especially since cities like Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, and Asheville have often been pretty progressive. I think these corporate boycotts like with Paypal should continue to happen; unfortunately Charlotte will be hurt, despite it trying to pass pro-LGBT legislation. From what I have read, police departments don’t even really know how to enforce this- the details are rather vague.
^There is no statement in the bill as to what the penalties are for using the wrong facilities. I think that requires separate types of laws.
so basically, in NC as per the transgender bathroom part of the bill the only people held accountable will be college students in UNC housing … SMH :-L
No, the only ‘people’ held responsible would be a city, school, or organization required to designate the bathroom facilities as single gender and then failed to do so (or actually designated them as open to all). As sylvan8798 said, there are no criminal penalties in this law against someone who marched into the men’s room when she is assigned to the woman’s bathroom. If UNC housing decided to designate a bathroom or locker room as multi occupant, open to all that would be a violation. The actual people using the bathroom are not covered by this law.
@twoinanddone But for my son’s friend who is trans-woman and wanting housing at UNC … she may now be put in “male” housing dorm suite bc the suite bathrooms are part of the dorm rooms… how do I tell her to avoid that??
That’s my immediate reaction too, and I think it’s absolutely horrible - I wouldn’t want my daughter placed in housing with boys… There ought to be immediate help and advice for transgender students in UNC housing to avoid this!
(And this is on top of the regular horrible situation of being a woman forced to enter a men’s bathroom because you were born male… I wouldn’t… And even if the NC legislators want to discriminate against trans people “in order to protect women in their bathrooms”, what about the reaction to a man entering a woman’s bathroom because he was born female, can you imagine the women’s reactions? Okay, I think that personally I would simply continue as before and pretend the law wasn’t passed. I mean, what would they do, have attendants check your driver’s license?)
I think it was Slate that had an article about a transgender man in NC who has started using the women’s restroom as required by law. In the article he described an older woman telling him that he was in the wrong restroom, and who refused to listen when he tried telling her that’s where he’d rather be but he was following the law.
I do think most day to day use of bathrooms will continue as before and the person who appears to be a woman will continue to use the women’s room and no one will any the wiser. Totally understand that people don’t WANT to be forced to hide who they are, want to just be open about it and that is the reason to overturn the law even though it won’t make a change to their everyday actions.
For a dorm rooming assignment at a public school, it will be a problem unless the school has co-ed rooms or floors and then a few bathrooms in the hallways. It wouldn’t violate the law if a ‘gender assigned’ female used the male bathroom as long as his assigned dorm room had an assigned female bathroom. (With control cards, it might be a problem) I don’t know how the universities are going to interpret a shared room with a single occupant bathroom. The law only applied to locker rooms and multi occupant bathrooms, not to bathrooms that are single occupant but happen to be often used by all genders.
I really think the law was intended to stop younger children, in public schools, from using the ‘wrong’ locker rooms and school hallway bathrooms. There have been a few cases that have caused a public uproar (Missouri with a locker room case; Colorado with a very young child in grade school) and when the city passed the law giving extra protection the legislature went into protection mode.Over protection mode.
I’m from Arkansas and am a parent of a gay child. He chose to leave this state in order to attend a college with a more welcoming atmosphere. I worry about him daily being so far from home having to deal with all the hatred and animosity towards his community.
LGBT people have higher rates of suicide, murder, discrimination and homelessness than any other group and it breaks my heart to see states marginalize them more.
Having just sent in a deposit to one of the UNC schools, I am sick about this. My only consolation is that my child will now be one more vote against the governor in the fall.
Does anyone in NC have a sense of how the gubernatorial election is leaning right now? If he gets voted out, can a his replacement undo the law? Fire the UNC head?
My heart goes out to @runswimyoga 's son’s friend.
Your kid may need to navigate some obstacles to actually vote in NC. NC requires photo ID to vote, and out-of-state driver’s licenses are not always accepted, and student IDs are not accepted.
http://www.ncvoter.org/voting-in-nc/
Student IDs are supposed to be accepted to register to vote:
http://www.ncvoter.org/registering-to-vote/
There is absentee ballot voting in NC, but there are requirements that new college students are less likely to be able to fulfill:
http://www.ncvoter.org/voting-in-nc/absentee-ballot/
ucb beat me to it, @craspedia. The states that pass these kinds of troglodyte laws also tend to be the states which want to suppress voting by the wrong kind of people, such as college students. In addition to the new law in Mississippi (in which, apparently, baking cakes = practicing a religion), this week South Carolina introduced legislation similar to NC’s. Nikki Haley is nervously protesting that her state doesn’t need it. All three of these states practice voter suppression. Really, anyone who’s sending a kid to school almost anywhere in the South or Midwest will now have to decide if they want thier child to spend 4 years in a state which so strongly believes in discrimination and/or in a state which goes to ridiculous lengths to prevent people from voting.
Even tiny Nags Head, on the Outer Banks has passed a resolution against the bill. They have an annual pridefest and generally vote liberal:
The law is unconstitutional but of course it’ll take a while to over turn.
By all means, those of you who have sent deposits, you can get refunds and go to school somewhere else. It’s not May 1 yet.
Eleven hours ago Margaret Spellings, head of the UNC system, and Carol Folt, Chancellor of UNC, announced that they are not in favor of this law. Carol Folt (UNC-CH) sent out a campus wide email saying that she and the administration are against the bill and they do not agree with it. The email contains a passage from Spellings stating that all non-discrimination policies will remain in place. The school is working hard to ensure that those impacted by this law continue to feel welcome on campus.
The towns of Carborro and Chapel Hill just passed two resolutions calling for a repeal of the law and are considering joining the lawsuits.
It is not so easy or desirable to leave the state. Some of us have kids down there (who are from the northeast) who are happy and thriving. I prefer that my kid stay down there so that she can voice her opinion and explain to the visiting families that the community is very welcoming.
But there’s still time for parents of rising freshmen to see if they have alternatives, especially if they are LGBTQ. If all universities where the child got in are in the South or second Bible belt, looking at what university leadership does in the next couple days will be crucial. Calling Housing about placement for trans kids is especially vital. Checking ‘religious freedom’ resolutions in nearby towns too, to see if kids can be denied service because they’re with a boyfriend / girlfriend, and of course as an indication of likelihood of harm.
Never has ‘religious freedom’ been given such a bad name.
I completely understand the questions and concerns that current seniors and their families may have. I also agree with post #77.
I am a native Southerner, back in the south after raising my kids elsewhere. When this sort of thing happens, there are difficult decisions to make. Some have the option to get the heck out and leave the prejudices behind. The other choice is to stay and fight. Those of us who left years ago, have to deal with the repercussions of that decision now. I don’t think anyone’s child has a duty to be a crusader, but I admire and appreciate all the young people choosing to undertake that valuable role. Since we didn’t fix it all for them when we should have done so, they will have to fix it for themselves.
If all those objecting leave, evil wins. And has more potential to spread. I am staying put this go round.
Huge thanks to all the LGBT community and allies, making the choice to stay and live open lives, now and in previous decades. Thank you. You have made the world a safer place for my child.
I think it’s different for people who live in those states and disageee - they can fight for what they believe in, or not, but I didn’t think leaving is an option when you have a job, a house, a family. I would hope that parents of LGBT kids would protest as this kind of policy is directed at their child, their child’s safety and life.
But calling the universities before my child enrolls (especially if I know s/he is LGBTQ) would have two effects: get us the information we need to make a decision, and let people at the University understand what a big deal, for how many people, it is, and possible consequences. Dozens and dozens of phone calls would drive the message home better than a vague awareness.
Same thing if calling towns ’ chamber of commerce. Parents calling about their children’s safety is likely to drive the message home better. Or calling to ask what the town’s position is, and thanking them if they courageously took a stand against the discrimination bill.
As much as I agree the new law is depressing and worrying, as someone living in the triangle of NC it’s also uplifting and inspiring to see people form all walks of life rallying in support of LGTB. There is absolutely BIG pushback here, with many unhappy voices raised.
I went up to the Chapel Hill area on Monday and the adjacent town of Carrboro has rainbow flags flying on every second or third building of their downtown area. This is an area in walking distance of UNC Chapel Hill and is very popular with students.