Phil Berger and our cultural education

by | Apr 25, 2016 | Editor's Blog, LGBT Rights | 10 comments

Much to his chagrin, President Pro-tem Phil Berger and his so-called “bathroom bill” have started a national conversation about transgender people. Berger thought he had an easy target: a group of socially marginalize people with little political clout. He could pass the bill, fire up his base, and get little blowback. He would also slip in some language that would protect businesses from lawsuits and prevent any increases in the minimum wage. Boy, was he wrong.

He turned his simple bathroom bill into a piece of discriminatory legislation that quickly caught the attention of the entire country. Corporate America took notice because the bill clearly prevents protections for LGBT citizens. That argument is over and social conservatives lost. Society is not going to tolerate discrimination against gay people.

But not too many people thought much about transgenderism until now. For many people, the word transgender evokes an image of transvestites. Instead, we’re seeing transgender men with beards, muscles, and flat chests and we’re seeing transgender women with curves that can compete on fashion runways. Thanks to Senator Berger, the country is getting a cultural education. And like most subjects, the more we know, the more accepting and less fearful we’ll be as a society.

Berger and his bill have brought transgender people out of the shadows. They’re telling their stories and educating America. Transgender people worry less about their physical parts and more about their personal identities. Transgender men see themselves as men, not women in men’s clothing.

Ironically, Berger’s bill isn’t going to keep men out of women’s restrooms and locker rooms; it’s going to put these men into bathrooms with the girls he says he wants to protect. Slowly but surely, the country will come to understand that. Berger is doing more to build acceptance of transgender people than almost anything else he could have done.

House Bill 2 could not have worked out worse for Republicans in North Carolina. Phil Berger has hurt his own credibility by attacking opponents as “multimillionaire celebrities” who are part of a “far-left Political Correctness Mob.” Those opponents now include NASCAR and conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer. The silence from other Republican leaders and organizations makes them complicit in the damage as the North Carolina loses business and jobs. And now, transgender acceptance and understanding will grow, slowly but surely, because of the spotlight from this episode. That’s not what Phil Berger anticipated.

10 Comments

  1. Dave Connelly

    Only NC’s cities are being damaged by all the boycotts and cancellations, and they vote Democrat anyway. So until Eden or Kings Mountain start to lose business, legislative leaders won’t see any problem with HB2.

    • Charles Hogan

      ask rep Timothy Keith Moore whats up with the Grant that harry Reid gave to Rockwood Lithium battery factory in his home town of Kings mountain now owned by Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) that is the home office for the barrtery division for the tesla Gigafactory in June 2014 outside Sparks, Nevada
      That is the reason for the ALEC take over of the N.C. Mining and Energy Commission.

      http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/mining-and-energy-commission/home

      Moore stands to make billions in under the table insider trading. I don’t think that loss of small home town business is going to bother that crony capitalist in the least ..

  2. Troy

    I’m curious. Everyone thus far has been addressing the impact of HB2 on public facilities, but what about when the choices here are less than compulsory and long term? What I mean by that is, jails and prisons. How are transgendered inmates quartered in these facilities? And while HB2 doesn’t address this issue, how are the Sheriffs and Department of Corrections officials dealing with this issue now?

    Perhaps there is something to be learned from what is already being done.

    • Ebrun

      Somehow, Troy, I suspect our Sheriffs and Correction officials have much more on their plate to deal with than which showers and bathroom facilities any transgender prisoners should use. Don’t forget, the NC Sheriffs Association has expressed its support for HB2. I’ll bet most jail and prison operations in NC will continue operating as usual despite the transgender controversy.

  3. Chris

    The question in my mind is how long Phil Berger and Tim Moore can hold out as HB-2’s economic damage piles up. Are they really prepared to allow months of a drip, drip, drip of economic bad news? I believe they’re sweating it and are now realizing there is no easy face-saving solution. Anything less than full repeal will not end the boycotts. Yet the opposite, full speed ahead with the current law continues to poison the state’s economic well being and reputation.

    Sooner or later–with these two likely the latter–they will be forced to address the reality they created. In the meantime the pressure builds.

    • Charles Hogan

      Being a politically “Correct” Progressive ,which I feel is far better that being a politically “Incorrect” Rightie . I find myself harboring closet “conservative” feelings of wanting to return to the good old days. I wish for the days before the GOP gerrymandered weaponless coup d’etat that allowed them illegal access to the seat of power in North Carolina through Election Fraud not yet proven but verified in the hearts and minds of all Progressive North Carolinians

  4. Mary

    Now we’re supposed to say, “Thank you”?? I don’t think so.

  5. Barbara dantonio

    Great info. The more we educate the better the tolerance and understanding. Love the unintended consequences.

  6. Fetzer Mills Jr

    I love the law of unintended consequences.

  7. Dave Connelly

    Excellent viewpoint. That’s the one law that can’t be legislated or repealed: The law of unintended consequences.

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