North Carolina has recently passed House Bill 2, and it has come with its fair share of controversy. Many concerts and events such as the NBA All Star game have been either moved out or have threatened to move out of the state in protest of the bill.

This bill deals with transgender bathroom and discrimination related policies.

The bathroom section states that everyone must use the bathroom according to the gender that is on their birth certificate, even if they are transgender and identify as the opposite sex.

I am on the fence about this section of the bill, because while I understand what the lawmakers were trying to accomplish by closing the loophole for sexual predators, they made a previous non-issue into a huge controversy.

Now, we will have men who dress, look, and identify as women in the men’s restroom and vice versa, and that is an uncomfortable situation for everyone.

I am also not sure what side to argue in terms of the discrimination section. This part of HB2 states that members of the LGBT community cannot sue businesses or organizations for perceived discrimination.

If you look at this from the perspective of the business owners, it is a positive. If they want to deny service to or not hire these kinds of people, while I don’t agree with that, they have that right, and it is their freedom to do what they want with their business.

But if you come at this from the side of the members of the LGBT community, it just hurts them. It is wrong to discriminate against these people, and if it is a big thing, like a firing just for the reason of their sexual identity, then that is something they should be able to take action about.

There really isn’t a full proof solution to this topic. I think the best thing to do is to not judge or discriminate anyone in the first place because it just causes issues like the one we are in the midst of right now.