Around one year ago, former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed into law House Bill 2, a law that eliminated anti-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity and veteran status and required that individuals only use public bathrooms or changing facilities that align with the biological sex on their birth certificate.
Soon after the bill was passed, Elon University issued a statement denouncing the bill. This reaffirmed Elon’s commitment to inclusivity, diversity and ensuring students feel safe on campus. This stance attracted mixed reactions from the Elon community, some finding the decision misguided and others seeing it as an admirable stance for the university to take.
Some believed that because the law was so outwardly discriminatory it would be repealed within a matter of months. But here we are, a year later, and it is still the law in our state. Many have made attempts to repeal the law, but they have all failed. The news media has seemed to forget about HB2 — as have the people.
Just because HB2 was passed a year ago and isn’t spoken about as much in the news doesn’t mean it isn’t still affecting people in North Carolina. Shortly after HB2 was passed, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a non-essential travel ban to North Carolina. Elon is scheduled to play the State University of New York at Albany in a home game this fall, but since SUNY Albany is a public school, they are unable to travel to North Carolina. The status of where or even if that game will be played is still up in the air.
A survey is distributed every year to students who were admitted to Elon and chose not to attend. In 2016, the Office of Admissions added a question that asked if HB2 was a factor in their decision to not attend Elon. Of the respondents, 17 percent stated that HB2 was a factor.
Laws such as HB2 aren’t going away any time soon. Just a few weeks ago, President Donald Trump rescinded federal protections for transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choosing in public schools.
This law, while ultimately unenforceable, is still affecting both the LGTBQIA community and the Elon community as a whole. Because of this bill, our community is missing out on the economic boost of hosting sports events.
Our school is losing students who may feel unsafe in the state of North Carolina. This law is causing our campus to loose valueable, diverse voices, ultimately hurting our campus.
Just last week, SGA passed a bill urging the university to consider creating multi-occupancy gender-neutral restrooms in all new construction and renovations. This legislation is a great step in the direction of fighting HB2 and the Elon community should support this initiative, but it’s important to also consider the impact of this law on a larger scale.
We can advertise in every single publication that Elon is an inclusive campus, say that we denounce the law and pass bills such as the one SGA did last week. But, that still may not be enough to get prospective students or people visiting campus to overlook the law.
The Elon community should continue to protest HB2 and discriminatory laws like it on a state or national level. Students should call their senators, write letters, attend protests or even simply facilitate conversations on the matter. By ignoring HB2, students are doing a diservice to the LGBTQIA community and our campus as a whole.
We cannot forget about the effects of HB2. We, as an institution dedicated to inclusivity, must continue to fight against the discriminatory bill with the same fervor as we did in the past.