In photos: A rally in support of HB 2 and protesters against it share Pack Square

Posted on by Xpress Contributor
Two groups of demonstrators face off across the street from one another. Photo by John Penley

Photos by John Penley, background by Able Allen

On Saturday morning, April 2, local supporters of House Bill 2 demonstrated under the Vance Monument to show appreciation for the law. The supporters also expressed the view that allowing people to use a bathroom other than the one that corresponds to the sex listed on their birth certificate is dangerous to the public.

In opposition, a larger complement of LGBTQ activists and allies showed up to protest the law, also called the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. Less than two weeks ago, the bill passed in an emergency session of the North Carolina legislature; it was enacted to block a Charlotte ordinance that would have allowed transgender individuals to use public restrooms marked for the gender they identify as.

Controversy has raged since the law was hurriedly introduced and passed. Governor Pat McCrory, who supported the new state law rather than vetoing it, has received criticism, as has North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper (McCrory’s Democratic rival in the state’s upcoming gubernatorial election), whom the right is attacking for not taking legal action against the Charlotte measure.

The two groups who gathered Saturday expressed their views peacefully but passionately with signs and banners. Those against the law see the issue as a civil rights battle and espouse the importance of recognizing people as the gender they say they are and treating them accordingly. Meanwhile, HB2 supporters say the law protects women and children. In their view, allowing people identified as male on their birth certificates to use bathrooms intended for women presents a threat to women. Demonstrators unfurled a large banner with mugshots of allegedly transgender individuals.

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7 thoughts on “In photos: A rally in support of HB 2 and protesters against it share Pack Square”

  2. James

    Imagine for a moment that you are a 12 year old girl. You walk inside the women’s bathroom at the shopping center. You absolutely have to use the bathroom and can’t hold it. Once inside you see a 50 something, obese, smelly man wearing a vulgar sweaty t-shirt, who says nothing but grins as he runs his eyes up and down your body as you stand there in shock. He looks totally insane and you know he is not going to leave but stand there as you go into the stall and do what you have to do. You are scared to death but there is nothing you can do. Security can’t help you. The police can’t be called. Why? Because HB2 was over-turned by a judicial supremacist.

      • NFB

        Interesting this obsession with bathrooms some have. The bathroom aspect of this bill is only one portion of it. The bill also prohibits counties and municipalities from passing their own laws to protect people from discrimination based in sexual orientation — this from the party who proclaims the importance of “home rule.” The bathroom portion is simply a ruse to distract from the more egregious portions of the bill — the portions that are causing companies like Paypal and Lion’s Gate to pull business from NC.

  3. Yep

    Ok, so is PayPal willing to cease all transactions involving NC customers and banks too? why not ? they do business with 25 other countries with worse human rights laws than here …

  4. paulgraham

    Really? How do you think what percentage of Americans cannot imagine their lives without paypal already/
    bbc

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