HB 2 redux? NC lawmakers again buck science, human rights advocates and corporate America with attacks on transgender rights
Published 3:58 a.m. today
It’s been almost four years since North Carolina’s Republican legislative leaders capitulated to global economic pressure and effectively admitted the error of their ways by agreeing to repeal the infamous anti-transgender law known as House Bill 2.
And while the agreement that Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore cut with Gov. Roy Cooper at the time was far from complete or satisfactory, there is little doubt that its main impact has been to serve as a repudiation of attacks on transgender people, and an important, if imperfect, step in moving our state into the 21st century on issues of gender and gender identity.
Big Business Is a Reliable Friend of the Republican Party
Right-wing populists are declaring war on “woke” corporations, but in the end, these alleged foes all want the same thing: GOP rule.
Graeme Jennings/Getty Images
On Wednesday,
The Wall Street Journal published a remarkable editorial framed as a breakup letter with corporate America. “We have supported big business, including Amazon and Exxon, against the depredations of big government,” it reads. “We will again when warranted. But we’re under no illusions that big business is a reliable friend of capitalism.”
That last sentence has been justifiably pilloried, but it should be said that there’s something to the
Transgender People Face More Legislative Attacks, In Part Due to Checks Written by America s Top Brands
Apr 13, 2021
At least 28 U.S. state legislatures are passing or considering bills that attack transgender youth. Whether the legislation bans medical treatments for trans youth in the name of “science,” or curtails trans girls and women from participating in sports in order to ensure “fairness,” the flurry of such activity in state capitols is breathtaking.
And it’s breathtaking in a destructive, cruel way. Hence organizations from the American Medical Association to dozens of America’s largest companies have publicly stated their opposition to any anti-transgender legislation.
The famous story goes that in the 1970s, while teaching political science at the University of Louisville, Mitch McConnell made a chalkboard list of three requirements for success in politics: money, money and money. His critics therefore rejoiced when companies began pledging to withhold their money from Republicans who voted to overturn the presidential election. For example, when the news broke Jan. 11 that Verizon would stop contributions to all those Republicans who voted against certification of the election results, the anti-Trump Lincoln Project tweeted out a biting reference to Verizon’s cellphone ads. “Hey GOP,” they wrote. “Can you hear me now?”
Hiltzik: Why corporations won t take action on voting laws latimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from latimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.