Okay, I really try to keep my political beliefs to the minimum of minimums on social media. Occasionally I'll have a friendly chat with a friend over politics, but that's about it. I feel that since I'll be a Charlottean again in just under a month, I can weigh in on this.
I'm not a historian. I'm in no way, shape or form anyone you should listen to about politics or government. I have no experience in the matter, but I do have opinions. I feel I keep a fairly open mind to peoples' opinions, however there are times when I just want to slap a mother fucker and ask, "What the fuck is wrong with you!?"
Pat McCrory needs one of these slaps.
For the sake of keeping this post (somewhat) short, I'm only going to discuss the "Bathroom Bill" portion of HB2, mainly because that's what so many people are focused on right now.
Imagine this scenario: A woman walks into a bathroom. She passes another woman as she makes her way to her private stall. They smile at one another in passing. The woman goes into a stall, closes the door, hovers and pees. There is another woman in the stall next to her doing the same thing. She finishes, tidies up, (hopefully) washes her hands and exits the bathroom.
One or both of the women she passed were transexuals. She had no idea. She wasn't molested. She wasn't in danger. She was none the wiser.
Now imagine this scenario: That same woman walks into a bathroom. She passes a man as she makes her way to her private stall. He smiles at her, but she doesn't smile back, because WHY THE FUCK IS THERE A MAN IN THE WOMAN'S BATHROOM!? The woman goes into a stall, closes the door, hovers and pees. There is another man in the stall next to her. But he's not peeing. He's in the women's bathroom to spy on her. How can he get away with this?! Because all he has to do is say that he was born a woman and now he has access to any fucking bathroom he damn well pleases! Maybe he's taking pictures of her from above the stall partition. Maybe he's waiting for a little girl to come in. Who the fuck knows!
McCrory and other narrow minded fuck-sticks will have people believing that we need to protect our women and children, then passes a law that actually does the exact opposite!
I have a dick. I was born with a dick. I like my dick. I want to keep my dick. I also happen to be straight. I like women. I like boobs. I like vaginas. I like looking at boobs and vaginas. I'm not a piece of shit. However, if I was a piece of shit, I could easily camp out in a women's bathroom and wait for opportune moment to spy on an unsuspecting woman. I could walk right into a women's bathroom and hide out and molest a woman. And all of this would be made easier by HB2.
One of my favorite places to eat in Charlotte is an amazing restaurant called Soul in Plaza Midwood. They have two bathrooms in their establishment. Both are gender neutral. There is a single toilet in each and a lock on the door. This has never been a problem (to my knowledge). Nobody is at risk. You go in, you lock the door and do you your business. Sounds like the perfect set up.
What all of this dumb shit really boils down to is a lack of knowledge about a group of people. A lot of people fear the unknown. Racism tends to come from a lack of association with a particular race of people. One thing I do remember from my history classes is that we must know our past so we can learn from our mistakes. That point was clearly made in almost every history class I took. Apparently, many of our elected officials missed that.
It wasn't long ago that this country was treating Japanese people differently because of the bombing at Pearl Harbor. Or that separate but equal was a fine way of coexisting with black people. It was perfectly acceptable to slander a gay person or to call someone gay as a way of insulting them. And apparently we've learned nothing from that.
I am what a lot of people would consider a "progressive". I welcome it with open arms. People who are not progressive are considered "traditionalists". I see nothing wrong with traditions. Keep your traditions. I'm not trying to take anything away from you. But really, when it comes to making laws that effect citizens of the United States of America, "traditionalist" really just means "scared, straight white people". Straight white men have been running this country and anything that challenges that is scary. Obama scares the shit out of them. Gays are going to corrupt their children! Transgenders are going to molest everyone! Blacks are going to rob them all! Muslims are going to bomb everything! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
In my eyes, a progressive is open to understanding. It's someone who is willing to listen to the unknown and not judge a belief that is different from theirs. You don't have to understand something to accept it, but you should be open to understanding to live a fuller life.
I can go on and on. I can write pages on the people who are supposedly pious and all about family values that are found molesting children or caught up in sex scandals. I can write even further on christians who try to argue that the bible is the word of god (it's not) and that we should structure our government around those ideologies. All I'll say is that this is NOT a christian nation. This is a nation for all people. For everyone to be free. Not just those who our small minded governments choose to be.
You want to make laws based on christianity? Mark 12:31 Love your neighbor as yourself.
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