Today, Sir Elton John released an op-ed in The Hill on behalf of the Elton John AIDS Foundation discussing his outrage over North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s support for House Bill 2.
John not only criticized the discriminatory bill itself but also the the millions in taxpayer dollars Gov. McCrory is wasting to defend it. Calling out McCrory’s ignorance on transgender issues John wrote, “This brand of ignorance deliberately shuts out the perspective of an already marginalized community. It’s dangerous, and it goes beyond bathrooms. As the father of two children, I would hope their world is free of discriminatory, hateful legislation like North Carolina’s.
“Forcing transgender people to use the bathroom of a gender with which they don’t identify isn’t just inconvenient or impractical,” John continued. “For many, especially young students still grappling with their transition, it can be traumatic, and at worst, unsafe.
“The failure of McCrory and other lawmakers to see this is a failure of compassion, a failure to recognize the difficult and frequently unwelcoming world transgender people must navigate every day, stigmatized by the fear and ignorance of others.”
Underlining the importance of the need to meet transgender activists John compared the situation in South Dakota where Gov. Dennis Daugaard took a different turn after he met with transgender activists,
“Just a few weeks before McCrory signed his discriminatory bill, similar legislation in South Dakota took a very different turn. Gov. who also admitted he’d never met a trans person, had a change of heart about a discriminatory bill he’d originally supported. Why? He agreed to meet with transgender activists. He credited those meetings with giving him a new perspective. “I heard their personal stories,” he said, “and I saw things through their eyes in that sense.”
John’s concern for the transgender community in North Carolina is deeply rooted in his work leading the Elton John AIDS Foundation and his familiarity with the impact stigma and ignorance has on the HIV/AIDS community and the individuals most at risk of contracting HIV, which largely includes the LBGT and low income communities.
Read Sir Elton John’s complete op-ed here.
Mr. John’s concern for the transgender community in North Carolina is deeply rooted in his work leading the Elton John AIDS Foundation and his familiarity with the impact stigma and ignorance has on the HIV/AIDS community and the individuals most at risk of contracting HIV, which largely includes the LBGT and low income communities.
