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Tale of two cities: North Carolina’s bathroom bill takes a turn for the worse; NYC welcomes gender-neutral stalls

Posted at 3:52 PM, Jul 05, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-05 15:49:14-04

It seems North Carolina just can't get things right, with the so-called, "Bathroom Bill!"

House Bill 2, or HB2, passed last March, requires transgender people to use the public restroom assigned to the gender they were born into, not the one with which they identify themselves.

A revised HB2 bill has been leaked according to the Greensboro News and Record.

In the revision, lawmakers want to issue a new type of government document called a “certificate of sex reassignment."

It only applies to people who have had a “sex change” surgery in a state that does notallow them to change their birth certificate.  Those states are Tennessee, Idaho, Kansas, and in some cases, Ohio.

Bottom line is, the revision only benefits a tiny minority of transgender people.

Meantime, the North Carolina Values Coalition, which supports the bathroom bill—says the state is just bending to pressure from the National Basketball Association.

That's because the league is considering moving next year’s All Star Game out of Charlotte if serious changes are not made to the law.

While North Carolina's Bathroom Bill is still in limbo...

In New York City, Mayor Bill DeBlasio just signed off on new legislation requiring single-occupant bathrooms to be used by persons of any gender.

In a statement, the Mayor said, "Any New Yorker – no matter how they identify or express their gender – will now be able to use any public, single-occupant bathroom. With this bill, we take yet another step toward becoming a place where all can live with dignity, free from fear and free from judgment.”

Public spaces such as restaurants have until January 1, 2017 to change their bathroom signs to unisex.

The Big Apple also launched a huge media blitz highlighting the new rules and revamped bathroom signs.

Source: NYC.gov

Supporters of the New York City law are hoping the gender neutral mandate will send a message of equality to other parts of the country.