North Carolina’s long-running fight over who gets to use which bathroom flared back up Tuesday, as conservative activists rallied outside the Legislative Building in Raleigh to urge lawmakers to revive sweeping restrictions on restroom access for transgender people in schools and other state facilities.
Organized by the NC Values Coalition and joined by local chapters of Moms for Liberty and student speakers, the crowd framed their push as a bid to protect “women's safety and privacy.” A small band of counterprotesters was having none of it, repeatedly interrupting the event and warning that the proposals would harm and erase LGBTQ North Carolinians, according to The News & Observer.
"Allowing students to access the opposite sex bathroom is harmful for all involved," Ashley Vaughan, communications director for the NC Values Coalition, told the crowd, as reported by The News & Observer. Vaughan said her group wants rules that would require people to use facilities that match the sex listed on their birth certificate, describing that standard as a return to “common sense” privacy protections.
In a press release on its website, the coalition outlined versions of a “Women’s Safety and Protection Act” and related measures that would write definitions of biological sex into state law, separate restrooms and locker rooms by sex, and extend malpractice windows for people who detransition, according to NC Values Coalition. The group said the proposals are intended to shield women and girls in settings that include schools and correctional facilities.
Counterprotesters at the rally said the push amounted to an effort to erase transgender people and unwind rights they say were hard won. Heather Redding told reporters such restrictions “do incredible harm to trans kids” and could end up invading students’ privacy, The News & Observer reported. Critics also questioned how any new bathroom rules could realistically be enforced without turning staff and students into gender police.
Echoes of HB2 and recent bills
For many North Carolinians, Tuesday’s rally sounded like a rerun. In 2016, the state passed HB2, the infamous “bathroom bill” that sparked national boycotts and major economic fallout before key provisions were repealed in 2017. When lawmakers introduced a fresh bathroom measure, Senate Bill 516, last year, ABC11 recapped how HB2 had led to canceled events and scrapped investments, and resurfaced warnings that the state could once again pay a steep price.
Lawmakers filed Senate Bill 516 with language similar to earlier bathroom restrictions, but the proposal never even got a hearing and stalled out, according to reporting from NC Newsline. As ABC11 noted at the time, supporters cast SB 516 as restoring “common sense” protections, while critics warned that North Carolina’s reputation and economy could be dragged back into a familiar storm.
What a new bill could mean legally
Any fresh effort to restrict bathroom access is almost certain to be met in court. When HB2 became law, federal agencies quickly raised alarms that it violated civil rights protections, and the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state in 2016, according to Human Rights Watch. Civil rights groups have signaled they would be ready to launch similar legal challenges if lawmakers move forward with new restrictions.
Political stakes in Raleigh
Supporters of the push say it is all about safety and privacy in intimate spaces. Opponents see it as another front in a culture war that risks replaying the economic and legal fallout of HB2. With lawmakers watching and the legislative calendar advancing, advocacy groups on both sides are clearly gearing up for a fight over whether North Carolina goes back into the bathroom battles that made it a national flashpoint once before.
