No dog in this fight? No skin in this game?

I’m White, Male, Straight, and Economically Privileged. So, why did I feel compelled to travel to North Carolina on Monday and sit-in for repeal of HB2?

I was arrested in Raleigh, North Carolina on the Third Anniversary of Moral Monday in protest of House Bill 2, or what is referred to by some as the transgender “bathroom bill”. However, those who have been paying a bit more attention know it’s much more nefarious, manipulative, and discriminatory than just restroom access. We have come to know it by a different name: “Hate Bill 2”.

Beyond the curtail of transgender rights, sections of HB2 prevent a municipality in North Carolina from raising the living wage, from requiring contractors to pay a living wage, to pay sick leave or vacation. It restricts the filing of employment discrimination cases in state courts. Of this law, Reverend William Barber II of the North Carolina NAACP said: “This is a trick bill, and the transgender community is being used the same way black people were used in the past or Latino people. They are being scapegoated in order to pass all of these anti-poverty — anti-labor and anti-living wage parts of the bill.”

Some may wonder why I would intentionally and illegally sit in non-violent civil disobedience for this cause. I am not a member of the LGBTQ community or a member of any oppressed or disadvantaged group. I am white, I am male, I am straight, and I am not a disadvantaged member of any community. I would not stand to lose any rights in this bill, or likely any bill based in fear in hate that would follow in North Carolina. Further, I am not even a North Carolina resident. I live in Washington, DC.

So why did I?

Because what happens to those in this country that are different than me does affect me and does affect us all.

Because I believe just as MLK did that injustice to anyone anywhere is injustice to everyone everywhere.

Because I am a recent convert and believer in the power of non-violent direct action and civil disobedience to elevate and underscore the “fierce urgency of now” of a very worthy and urgent cause.

Because those who I care about and love should enjoy all the same rights and privileges I enjoy.

Because those I care about also have people that they care about who would be the target of this discrimination.

Because this is another piece of disingenuous fear & hate-based legislation that is using North Carolina as a testing ground and if they’re successful here, they’ll attempt (and have attempted) to spread this hate through conservative state legislatures just as the Voter ID and rollbacks in ballot box access by the NC Legislature has been replicated elsewhere.

Because my grandmother’s generation took care of these issues in the 1960’s with passage of the Voting Rights & Civil Right Acts, and I am ready to move forward (not one step back!) and solve today’s problems, not the ones that we already did 50+ years ago.

Because this Hate Bill and all other bills are meant to divide groups on these issues, forcing them into a false either/or situation of choosing either progress for their policy priority or solidarity with their broader coalition partners, rather than the inclusion of a yes/and scenario.

Because ultimately, we are all in this together. We must start by being there for one another. If we don’t show solidarity with our fellow human’s cause today, then we can’t expect them to be there when we make a call for action tomorrow.

Because my personal comforts, privilege, personal liberties are of less consequence to me than those of others who have historically suffered and will continue to suffer if laws like HB2 are not repealed.

Because I had nothing planned for Monday, and sitting at home watching The Daily Show and complaining about all the crap that’s wrong with our politics wasn’t gonna cut it when I was aware that this was going down in North Carolina, and there was something I could do about it.

Because it’s just wrong to legislate mistreatment of my fellow human beings.

Because: Solidarity.