Symbolic state travel bans support gay rights

The national trend is toward equal rights for gay, lesbian and transgender Americans. But a backlash is under way in North Carolina, Mississippi and other states against this sensible policy of supporting equal rights, and that is triggering a powerful counter reaction.

Major corporations are now saying they don’t want to bring their business to such places that discriminate. PayPal this week said it won’t place an operations center employing 400 in North Carolina.

And Washington Gov. Jay Inslee in the space of a week has signed bans on most state-paid travel for employees going to either North Carolina or Mississippi.

Legislation signed into law last week by North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory effectively repealed gay, lesbian and transgender protections in cities such as Charlotte, which had passed equal rights laws. The new law forbids local governments from breaking the state orthodoxy.

In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant signed a law Tuesday granting businesses, government workers and religious groups with sincerely held religious beliefs the right to essentially refuse services for gay and lesbian couples.

It’s hard to accept that any state in our union would fail in this day and age to recognize that diversity in sexual orientation and sexual identity are naturally occurring traits in our species.

Inslee’s move was largely symbolic — given that only 32 employees took a total of 36 trips to North Carolina in the past year. The ban applies unless a trip is deemed essential.

Inslee was within his rights to issue his orders, and he noted that state workers traveling to either southern state would not be protected as they are under the Washington Law Against Discrimination.

Sexual orientation and identity protections are now a decade old in Washington. Our Legislature adopted a civil rights law protecting LGBT individuals against discrimination in public accommodations, employment and housing in 2006 after decades of fighting over the issue.

The following three years saw measures expanding rights of same-sex couples — culminating in a referendum vote that upheld domestic partnerships in 2009. Three years later, voters again upheld same-sex marriage after religious groups authored a referendum to block the law already passed by the Legislature.

Last November, our state Human Rights Commission took another step. It enacted a rule clarifying that transgender persons may use a restroom or locker room of their gender identity, even if they were still transitioning physically from one gender to another.

We have supported the rule, while acknowledging there could be an uncomfortable period of transition for the public.

Concern that men would dress up as women or claim to be women as an excuse to pop into women’s shower stalls has proven to be a dark fantasy. Legislation to reverse the law failed to get to Inslee’s desk.

Stepping back into the light, Georgia’s conservative Republican governor backed away from enshrining discrimination in state law. Under pressure from corporations and others, Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a bill like North Carolina’s. And Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoed a similar measure.

The winds of change are blowing, and they need to blow progressively eastward and to the south from the Northwest.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Symbolic state travel bans support gay rights."