Journalists really should take note.
<br>In March, North Carolina passed a no good, very bad, anti-transgender law — but you might know that already.
Essentially, it requires trans people to use whichever bathroom corresponds with the gender listed on their birth certificate, which creates all sorts of problems.
Here's North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory. Photo by Davis Turner/Getty Images.
It came in direct response to a Charlotte ordinance about to be enacted that would have actually protected trans people.
But sadly, most of the news coverage about the Charlotte ordinance consisted of news anchors simply repeating the anti-trans talking points.
GIF from Media Matters for America/YouTube.
And while the state of North Carolina received some major backlash after passing the anti-trans law, most journalists continued to present it in a "Who's to say, really?" kind of way.
Well, that stopped last night, when Megyn Kelly of Fox News interviewed North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory.
Finally! Someone was ready to directly address these issues. Kelly came away looking like a pro, while Gov. McCrory left flustered, clinging to his talking points about tradition and expectations of privacy.
Here are a couple of the highlights:
On the idea that allowing trans people to use the correct bathroom will somehow be a violation of privacy:
GIFs from Mediaite/YouTube.
McCrory deflected.
On debunking the idea that transgender people are somehow more likely to be sexual criminals:
McCrory's response here? To deny the existence of trans people, saying that he doesn't "use that term." As we all know, if you don't say something aloud, it doesn't exist, right?!
Throughout this and other interviews, McCrory has said that his concern isn't about transgender people, but about "men" sneaking into women's restrooms and claiming they're transgender as an excuse (which, for the record, has never happened in any of the 17 states and more than 200 cities across the country that have trans-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances).
Good for Kelly for not letting him skate by on the usual talking points.
There was one thing Gov. McCrory was right about: This isn't an issue he started.
Anti-trans individuals have been murmuring about this for years. States and cities have tried and, at times, succeeded in passing laws designed to deny transgender people their basic human rights (everybody poops, right?). It's only in the spotlight of increased visibility — which, as this situation highlights, is a double-edged sword — that states have made this a national issue, painting trans people as sexual deviants and a danger to children.
We know what it looks like when trans people aren't allowed to use the correct bathroom, and it'd seem to be the opposite of what McCrory and other anti-trans individuals say they want.
Watching Kelly run circles around McCrory seems to indicate that just maybe this whole thing wasn't thought through.
Well done, Megyn Kelly. Well done.
GIF from "Citizen Kane."
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