North Carolina has brought the wrath of LGBT supporters upon itself by passing a law that makes it illegal for anyone to use a restroom that doesn’t directly correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth. In layman’s terms, this law makes it illegal for a transgender man to use a public men’s restroom, and for a transgender woman to use a public women’s restroom.
This has led to a widespread boycott of North Carolina. Not any particular area, city, or politician—a boycott of the entire state as a whole. PayPal cancelled its plan to open an office in Charlotte, which would have created 400 new jobs in the city. Bruce Springsteen cancelled a show that he was scheduled to play in Greensboro. And Sherman Alexie, a famous author, cancelled an event at a small, independent bookstore in Asheville.
The owner of this bookstore, Linda-Marie Barrett, has since spoken out in protest of the boycott, though not out of support for the bathroom law. Barrett argues, in the above "New York Times" article, that this boycott by stars and companies is hurting those in North Carolina who are not supporting the law, in addition to those who are. As an independent bookstore owner, hosting Alexie would have brought in a lot of business for her—but his cancellation over the bathroom law caused her to lose out on all of that potential revenue, over a law she doesn’t even agree with.
Barrett makes a valid point; boycotts are newsworthy, they attract attention, and they can often be very effective. But in boycotting an entire state, there is no distinction among whom the boycott affects. Boycotting all of North Carolina causes financial harm to both those who oppose and support the new law, and this does nothing to repeal it. It seems the goal of the boycott is to pressure lawmakers in North Carolina into repealing the law, but conservative legislators don’t have much history of changing their minds in the face of protest.
Ultimately, Barrett is right. Many people in North Carolina didn’t ask for this law, don’t want it, and don’t support it, and this boycott hurts them as well. Instead of boycotting, probably the most effective way to overturn this law, and others like it, is for a lower court, or even the Supreme Court, to rule that discrimination against members of the LGBT community is not acceptable. For those that thought we were past needing laws making discrimination against any group illegal—sorry, apparently we’re not there yet. Until a court overturns it, North Carolina can keep cranking out the anti-LGBT laws.
In the meantime, a boycott of North Carolina as a whole doesn’t solve much. Instead, if you live in North Carolina, try calling or writing letters to the governor, and the legislators who passed this law, to show your opposition for it. Protest against it. Don’t give up, but don’t hurt those also oppose the law in an effort to get it repealed.
