North Carolina has been in the national spotlight for quite some time now as a result of Governor Pat McCrory signing into law the controversial and potentially unconstitutional HB 2, which was designed by Republican lawmakers to strip members of the LGBT community of their rights. The bill completely voids all local laws that act in favor of LGBT rights, it prevents transgendered individuals from using public restrooms that line up with their gender identity, and it legalizes discrimination of such individuals by businesses on the basis of ‘religious freedom’.
To say that this law has been one of the biggest blows to the LGBT community is an understatement. However, North Carolina hasn’t faired well in the national and global spotlight as a result of their law. They have already lost numerous events and visits from prominent celebrities and political figures in response to their archaic and unjust discrimination of people different than themselves.
A number of crises have sprung up in North Carolina thanks to the law. With the recent election now behind the country, North Carolina should have either elected a new governor or continued with McCrory, but there is a contentious battle over the governorship of the state that many experts agree may not be resolved until after Thanksgiving. McCrory’s opponent, Democrat Roy Cooper, is deeply in favor of LGBT rights and has previously pledged to repeal HB 2 if is he elected.
McCrory has only been able to barely stay afloat in the race thanks to donations from extreme anti-LGBT groups who have promoted the asinine law that is HB 2. One such group, the National Organization for Marriage, has spent exorbitant amounts of money on McCrory’s ad campaign within North Carolina.
One ad in particular that came from the National Organization for Marriage, or NOM, is particularly disturbing, not only for its content and underlying message, but for the inherent falsities presented as fact. The ad is a video message that features a small girl being raped as a result of ‘Roy Cooper’s bathroom plan’.
The ad starts off by saying that under Roy Cooper, men would be able to enter women’s restrooms without any repercussions, even those who aren’t transgender. The ad goes on to say that Cooper’s plan would allow for registered sex offenders to enter women’s facilities without any legal limitations. It is worth noting that the Republicans of North Carolina and McCrory himself do not back these ads.
When NOM released a press statement regarding their ads, they seemed to brag about how their content was able to help bridge the gap between McCrory and Cooper. Cooper was in the lead by several points before these ads went live. NOM believes they are fighting for common sense laws, yet they fail to realize that every one of their points is patently false. They call it ‘common sense’ that ‘men should not be allowed in women’s restrooms’, yet they fail to acknowledge LGBT people as part of the issue. They falsely claim these transgendered individuals are actually cis men trying to get away with something shady.
The basic goals of groups like NOM is to discredit, humiliate, and outright attack those who think and act differently from themselves, and they will happily use their money and political prowess to accomplish those goals. The ad in question here was actually repurposed from an ad that ran through Texas in the past. When it ran in Texas, it succeeded in convincing the majority of voters to vote against a new ordinance protecting LGBT worker’s rights.
The fact that such footage was reused points to a potential scandal since neither ad claims to come from the same source. Federal campaign laws dictate that all election ads must be declared for their true source.