Faced with NBA pressure, NC legislature considers amending anti-LGBT HB2

By Rob Howard
Associate Editor

Since North Carolina’s Republican controlled legislature passed its virulently anti-LGBT and anti-trans HB2 on March 23, it has become abundantly clear that they had no comprehension of the political and economic firestorm that would descend on the state.

Pre-eminent among the repercussions is a threat from National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver to move the 2017 NBA All-Star game out of Charlotte, if the “hotly debated” law hasn’t been changed.

Today, Charlotte television station WBTV and other news outlets in the state, broke the news that leadership in the state’s House of Representatives is circulating a draft bill that would undo some, but not all of HB2’s anti-LGBT provisions.

The Charlotte Observer reported, “Among the draft bill’s biggest changes is the creation of an official document that would recognize a person’s gender reassignment. The new document, which is treated as the equivalent as a birth certificate in the draft legislation, is referred to as a certificate of sex reassignment.

“The draft legislation is the result of months of conversations between leadership in the state legislature, including the Speaker’s office, and officials from the NBA, On Your Side Investigates has learned.

“Charlotte is set to host the 2017 NBA All Star Game, an event whose future has been uncertain since the passage of HB2 this spring.”

WBTV provided the language for the “Certificate of Sex Reassignment” portion of the draft bill:

“’An individual who (i) was born in another state or territory of the United States that does not provide a mechanism for amending a current certificate of birth or issuing a new certificate of birth to change the sex of an individual following sex reassignment surgery and (ii) resides in this State at the time of the written application may request a certificate of sex reassignment from the State Registrar,’ the legislation reads. ‘The State Registrar shall issue a certificate of sex reassignment upon a written application from an individual accompanied by a notarized statement from the physician who performed the sex reassignment surgery or from a physician licensed to practice medicine who has examined the individual and can certify that the person has undergone sex reassignment surgery.’”

North Carolina’s NC Policy Watch “Progressive Pulse” blog gave more detail on the other provisions of the proposed legislation.

“It repeals the provision in HB2 that removed the right of North Carolinians to sue for employment discrimination under state law.” The group noted that this only brings the state back to where people were before HB2 was passed.

“It adopts federal workplace and public accommodation anti-discrimination standards (which have been interpreted by some to include protections for LGBT people) in place of explicitly spelled out state standards which, among other things, referred to ‘biological sex.’”

The group says, “This might be a step forward — time might tell — but the better, clearer and much more obvious solution is to adopt a state standard that simply and specifically bars discrimination against LGBT people, period.”

“It enhances a variety of criminal penalties for those who would commit sex offenses in  restrooms and locker rooms.

“It establishes a vaguely defined commission to be appointed by the same leaders who brought you HB2 to examine the subject and make recommendations somewhere down the road.”

The blog also covered the opportunity to receive the “Certificate of Sex Reassignment,” noting that many transgender persons choose not to have sex reassignment surgery, and still live life in accordance with their gender identity.

The proposed certificate does not accommodate those persons.

The medical standard published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health explains that there are a variety of options for gender transition. The options include:

• A combination of surgery, hormones, social transition, psychotherapy, as well as other means.
• Treatments are individualized
• Health professionals recognize that “while many individuals need both hormone therapy and surgery to alleviate their gender dysphoria, others need only one of these options and some need neither.”

Many progressive states have adopted that definition in their rules for changing birth gender for transgender persons. California requires, “a statement from a physician that you have ‘undergone clinically appropriate treatment for the purpose of gender transition, based on contemporary medical standards.’"

Washington requires only, “a letter from a physician stating that the requestor has had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition.”

In other words, California and Washington, and at least ten other states and Washington, D.C. have removed surgical requirements.

The Progressive Pulse blog sums it up: “The bottom line: This is nothing close to what needs to be done on this vital subject. Let’s hope the NBA and other national powers that be give it a resounding ‘thumbs down.’”

Copyright 2016 The Gayly – June 28, 2016 @ 3:20 p.m.