Proud North Carolinian & House Bill 2

I was born and raised in rural North Carolina near the base of the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway. My mother's side of the family were mostly backroads country people, with deep religious roots, and what is now referred to today as "old-fashioned values". Many of my daddy's "people" were also as country as a castiron pan of cornbread. Often politics in North Carolina leaned towards the "Good ol' Boy" network and that is still very true today. And while my state and its people are far from perfect, have been party to plenty of things I certainly wouldn't be proud of,  the current backlash, travel bans, and people standing on soap boxes screaming about their refusal to step foot in our state unless the controversial House Bill 2 is repealed by our Governor absolutely infuriates me!

House Bill 2 mandates the following:

...Directs all public schools, government agencies and public college campuses to require that multiple-occupancy bathrooms and changing facilities, such as locker rooms, be designated for use only by people based on their "biological sex" stated on their birth certificate. Transgender people can use the bathrooms and changing facilities that correspond to their gender identity only if they get the biological sex on their birth certificate changed.
The bill also declares that state law overrides all local ordinances concerning wages, employment and public accommodations. So, the law bars local municipalities from creating their own rules prohibiting discrimination in public places based on sexual orientation and gender identity. (*from http://abcnews.go.com/US/reason-north-carolinas-anti-lgbt-law-spotlight-now/story?id=38306934)

Regardless of my own personal beliefs about House Bill 2, we are not the first, or only state to have politicians making poor decisions for the overall population! In fact, plenty of politicians in Washington D.C. have made decisions for our Nation that have created a mess that will take generations to undo (remember the illustrious "No Child Left Behind"????), while they held the American people hostage to their own personal agendas and re-election tactics (which makes their own "government ban" of travel to North Carolina beyond hypocritical). So, is banning or boycotting travel to North Carolina until the law is repealed really the way to "take a stand"? I certainly don't think so.

Companies that pull out of North Carolina because they find our legislation "politically incorrect" hurt our ECONOMY and ordinary people who had absolutely nothing to do with the law (...and I would challenge anyone to prove to me there's a single state in our U.S. of A. that doesn't have poor, ridiculous, or antiquated legislation on their books). Tourism is the backbone of much of our economy, especially in places like our mountains and the Outer Banks. Staying away due to a law others disagree with doesn't harm our Governor or law-makers.even a fraction, but it does potentially devastate honest, hard-working folks just trying to live a life, find a job, raise their kids, etc. The worst that will happen to our law-makers is that they may not be re-elected! The damage to average citizens in a crippled economy is potentially catastrophic.

I am all for taking a stand on the things we are passionate about, in fact doing so resonates with me on a visceral level. I am not, however, nor will I EVER be for making that stand be something that causes harm to many innocent by-standers. If your beliefs and actions connected to them cause massive collateral damage, it might be time to evaluate a better way of doing things to get your point across!