James N. The following is adapted from the second of two lectures—the Fifth Annual B. Allow me to introduce my topic by way of three short stories. First, the story of Bill—or rather a bill, namely, House Bill 2. On February 22, , the Charlotte City Council passed by a vote Ordinance , the stated purpose of which was to prohibit discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity in public accommodations, include public bathrooms.
This provoked a vigorous debate because the ordinance would have given a biological male who claims to have a female gender identity the legal right to use a public bathroom designated for women and contrariwise for a biological female who claims to be male.
HB2 ignited a firestorm of debate across the nation. It was widely and vehemently criticized for discriminating against transgender people and thereby violating their civil rights. Prominent celebrities, businesses, and sports associations vowed to cancel events and withdraw investment from North Carolina because of HB2. In addition, the U. The second story comes courtesy of the New York Times. When our son turned 6, my husband and I bought him a puppet theater and a chest of dress-up clothes because he liked to put on plays.
We filled the chest with 20 items from Goodwill, mostly grown-man attire: ties, button-down shirts, a gray pageboy cap and a suit vest. He was thrilled with these presents. He put on the sparkly green dress right away. In a sense, he never really took it off. I already decided about that.
I never think about that anymore. He had already decided. And he—she—never looked back. She grew out her hair. She stopped telling people she was a boy in a skirt and started being a girl in a skirt instead. And we, as a family, decided to be open and honest about it, too, celebrating her story instead of hiding it. Two years later, our daughter still sometimes wears the green dress, for dress-up and to put on plays, as we imagined her doing in the first place.
