The toll of North Carolina's HB2 on transgender athletes
— -- Transgender roller derby skater Erin McCargar never changed the gender designation on her birth certificate after transitioning, although she did on all other forms of identification.
So whatever bathroom she chooses, she can't be certain it would be seen as the "right" one by the state of North Carolina, which is suing the U.S. Department of Justice to defend the HB2 bill. The law supersedes a Charlotte ordinance that protected transgender people who use public restrooms based on their gender identity, and negates local ordinances across the state that would have expanded protections for the LGBT community.
The suit comes after months of protest against the law, but North Carolina has essentially doubled down on the idea that the choice of bathroom is potentially a criminal act.
Transgender men and women already feel under scrutiny, and might fear violence if their gender identity is revealed in front of a group hostile to their very existence.
"What I do know is that this effectively bans trans people from public spaces," McCargar said on her blog. "We risk going to jail if we use the bathroom that is appropriate to our gender presentation. We risk assault and jail if we use the bathroom that the bill requires of us."
One of those public spaces is Asheville, North Carolina's US Cellular Center, where McCargar has skated in the past as a member of the Nashville Rollergirls. If she were to go back, she wouldn't be able to get dressed with a team that accepts her for exactly who she is, because of a state law that doesn't.
The Women's Flat Track Derby Association is one national sport that welcomes transgender skaters. At its national tournament in St. Paul, Minnesota, the league had an all-gender bathroom.
North Carolina's law effectively says there is no gender identity, only gender.
"From a sports perspective, locker rooms are a big deal," Rose City skater Josie Simonis said in an email. "I play a team sport. I need to share a locker room with my teammates. No questions. However, if we went to N.C. right now, I couldn't, because my (Illinois) birth certificate says M. ...
"Sports make this even harder in many respects, but also can make it easier or at least help, because I'm often able to be with a group of people (my teammates) who know where I belong and will defend me as necessary."
Our culture does a bad job of separating our parts from our sexuality, whether it's regarding the perfunctory ladies room or breastfeeding an infant. Somehow, these tasks become sexualized and then someone invents a rule to address a problem that simply doesn't exist.
There have already been videos of self-appointed bathroom police -- and actual police -- accosting people in the bathroom about their "real" gender. In both of those clips, women who were assigned female at birth get the inquisition, not trans women. So we all have that to look forward to, ladies!
Many people can't see that the action taken to quiet imaginary specters has a very real impact on the trans community; criminalizing normal behavior, adding stress and uncertainty to a group that already faces high rates of bullying and self-harm. It's simply unjust to have this group answer for the boogeyman of a majority culture.
The NBA, NCAA and NFL have opposed the law, whether by issuing statements about choosing inclusive venues for fans or by working behind the scenes to show states how contrary such a law is to a community's business interests.
"Sports and entertainment have a great bully pulpit from which to guide the conversation," Texacutioners skater Penelope Nederlander said in an email. " Walking Dead threatening to leave Georgia. Huge. Even if it's not the biggest income stream for a state, it's visual. It's out there. But Hollywood we expect to be progressive. I don't think that big sports would have done anything for LGBT rights 10 years ago. Or even five years ago."
The safe choice might be to avoid North Carolina, but Nederlander said she isn't going to do that.
"I will be vocally opposed if I feel it's appropriate," Nederlander said. "And I will continue to live out as a trans athlete. North Carolina will get worse, not better, if we just punish them with the company of themselves. I would rather challenge them with seeing me as a person."
