Facebook, New York Times Latest Heavy Hitters to Blast North Carolina

The New York Times editorial board -- along with several influential corporations, including Facebook -- has joined the chorus of voices against North Carolina's House Bill 2, which targets transgender people and rescinds LGBT protections statewide.

The Times editorial -- titled "Transgender Law Makes North Carolina Pioneer in Bigotry" -- referred to the recent legislation as "appalling," saying it made a vulnerable group even more at risk of "violence and stigmatization."

Introduced, passed by both chambers of the legislature, and signed Wednesday by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, HB 2 bars transgender people from using public restrooms and other sex-segregated facilities that correspond with their gender identity as well as makes it impossible for any North Carolina municipality to enact discrimination protections for LGBT people.

The bill was a response to Charlotte passing a now-gutted nondiscrimination ordinance that, among other things, allowed transgender people to use the restroom that matches their authentic gender. Anti-LGBT forces presented the Charlotte ordinance as one enabling sexual predators to attack women in bathrooms -- something the Times finds despicable, and which is patently, provably false. The Times editorial states:

"Proponents of so-called bathroom bills, which have been introduced in state legislatures across the country, have peddled them by spuriously portraying transgender women as potential rapists. That threat exists only in the imagination of bigots. Supporters of the measures have been unable to point to a single case that justifies the need to legislate where people should be allowed to use the toilet. North Carolina is the first state to pass such a provision."

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The newspaper said McCrory's signing of the bill was a cynical political ploy and urged voters to oust him from office.

Meanwhile, businesses continue to pile on the HB 2 hate. Already Dow Chemical, PayPal, Apple, and American Airlines have condemned the bill, and now IBM, Lowe's, the NBA, Bank of America, and Wake Forest University have joined the fray. Facebook, which operates a data center in Forest City, N.C., released the following statement Thursday night: