HB2 at 1: "I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST LGBT, INFACT I HAVE MANY FRIENDS WHICH ARE GAY. I DONOT WANT MY PRIVACY INVADED, I HAVE PRIVACY IN MY HOME AND I EXPECT TO HAVE PRIVACY WHEN I AM OUT IN PUBLIC."

Now a year since the passage of House Bill 2, Sen. Terry Van Duyn, D-Buncombe, said it’s getting to the point where the state doesn’t even know what it’s losing anymore. 

“People aren’t canceling,” she said. “They’re just not coming.”

HB2 is a year old today. I've had some pretty robust discussions with people over the last 365. To celebrate, I invite supporters to tell me how we are all better off after a year of legalized discrimination.

Let's start with Rebekah Johnson, who wrote on my HB2Day Facebook page last August,

I AM VOTING FOR PAT MCCRORY AND I STAND WITH HIS BELIEVES!! DONT NEED NORMAN BATES IN WOMENS BATHROOMS AND ETC!!! ANYONE WHICH THINKS THIS IS CORRECT IS A FOOL!!! I DESERVE MY PRIVACY AND AS A NATURAL BORN WOMAN>I DEMAND IT!!!

I responded,

Thanks very much for sharing. I am sure you will be able, easily, to now explain how blocking minimum wage increases protects your privacy; and how, if gay men and lesbians use the correct bathroom, they need to be subjected to new discrimination under HB2, yet LGBT employees of the state are exempt under HB2? Extra points for explaining how HB2 protects your privacy by only applying to public facilities and without any enforcement provisions. Also: Franklin Graham says there are only a hundred transgender people in the state. The Governor's legal brief defending HB2 says there are none. Why is HB2 needed, then? 

Ms Johnson responded with alacrity and enthusiasm:

I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST LGBT, INFACT I HAVE MANY FRIENDS WHICH ARE GAY. I DONOT WANT MY PRIVACY INVADED, I HAVE PRIVACY IN MY HOME AND I EXPECT TO HAVE PRIVACY WHEN I AM OUT IN PUBLIC. IT WOULD BE MORE BENEFICIAL TO HAVE SEPERATE BATHROOMS, RATHER THAN USING WOMENS BATHROOMS AND ETC. REMEMBER CHILDREN USE BATHROOMS AND ETC ALSO. THIS IS NOTHING MORE THAN COMMON SENSE. PERHAPS THEY CAN USE CAMERAS IN THE BATHROOMS AND ETC NOW. ALSO, YOU HAVE TO KNOW THERE ARE RAPIST AND ETC, WHICH WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS HB2 GIVING THEM A GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD. ANY MAN OR BOY WHICH HAS ANY RESPECT FOR WOMEN OR GIRLS WOULD BE AGAINST THIS HB2.

I read her answer, then asked some questions:

Dear Rebekah Johnson: thanks very much for your reply. Kindly use upper and lower case lettering in your posts here. All caps is universally considered to be shouting, and the enemy of calm, rational discussion. It is nice to know you like some gay people. Most people who support antigay laws say that. Before the gays came along it was popular to say, "Some of my best friends are Negros" before explaining why we needed Jim Crow laws to keep them away from white women in bathrooms, too. But that is beside the point here. I asked how supressing the minimum wage across North Carolina makes you feel safer peeing. I asked how denying gay North Carolinians- some of whom you say are your friends- the protection of all discrimination laws makes you feel safer peeing. I asked how a law with no enforcement provisions can make anyone feel safer peeing. Since you said anyone who can't see the wisdom of HB2 is a fool, I'd have thought it'd be easy for you to answer those specific, fact-based questions. Maybe in your rush to assure me of your fondness for some gays, answering them slipped your mind. So why not take another swing at them? I'd like to have it explained to me.

Much to my regret, Ms Johnson did not reply. That's why I want to give her a chance to look back and give me an update.

The floor is your, Ms J....