Late GOP Sen. Jesse Helms, North Carolina, was fond of the word “pervert” when it came to LGBT people. He intended, of course, “pervert” as a noun not a verb.
To be clear, when Helms referred to me and my federal colleagues as a “bunch of perverts” he meant we were federal workers who practiced sexual perversion. He had in his mind a definition of “sexual perversion” and LGBT people practiced it, according to Jesse.
“Sexual perversion” is not at the heart of the North Carolina’s HB 2 controversy. Gender identity is at the heart of the matter. It will be a perverse pleasure though North Carolina in arguing against applicability of federal protections based on gender identity will likely establish that very applicability.
In a sense North Carolina is at “the crossroads of twisted values” Helms angrily spoke of 22 years ago when he used a Senate maneuver to fire me for “promoting the gay agenda” in the federal workplace. Jesse did not want gays in workplaces in the 1990s and in 2016 North Carolina does not want transgender people in restrooms. Legal protections for all could be an outcome of North Carolina Dixie Pride and LGBT Pride.
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, by filing a lawsuit against the US Department of Justice in defense of HB 2, a law he recently signed that, among other things, requires North Carolinians to use restrooms according to their birth sex rather than gender identity. McCrory claims “[t]here is no clear identification or definition of gender identity.”
Attorney General Loretta Lynch claims Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevents states from restricting access to restrooms for transgender people. President Obama agrees to this interpretation but Gov. McCrory does not. A U.S. District Court judge in North Carolina will have to decide.
After that, I suspect McCrory will have his day at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. where transgender people have bathroom access. Following an expected court ruling solidly establishing gender identity in law, I predict a renewed effort for federal workplace protections for LGBT people. I would not bet on its success.
The McCrory move to sue the U.S. Department of Justice is bold and in the mean and vile spirit of Jesse Helms. It will be pleasurable for North Carolina to wage The War of the Bathrooms before the U.S. district court only to lose.
For some perverse reason, Southerners love to fight losing battles. As a verb “pervert” means “to misconstrue or misinterpret, especially deliberately; distort.” Perhaps the Southern love of defeat has perverted their thinking such that losing is winning. Helms designated me a pervert 22 years ago in the pages of The Congressional Record. Still, this winning equals losing is too perverted for me to understand.
I suppose when federal courts rule against Gov. McCrory, the state of North Carolina will celebrate its defeat while the state’s LGBT community celebrates its victory. Perhaps in the celebration, perverts, perversion and Jesse Helms will fade into the past.
Longtime Washington diplomat Jim Patterson writes from California and Washington DC. JEPCapitolHill@gmail.com
