The year 2015 was a breakthrough year for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. Just over a year ago, in Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision on marriage equality, extending marriage rights to same-sex couples nationwide. Caitlyn Jenner focused the nation’s attention on the transgender community, with her public coming out and transition. President Obama became the first president to mention the word “transgender” in the State of the Union address, and the White House made a gender-neutral restroom available for the first time. Even Donald Trump has apparently jumped on the bandwagon, as he was the first Republican nominee to mention “LGBTQ” issues in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.
But the legal landscape for the LGBTQ community is far from settled. Recently, the North Carolina state legislature passed HB-2, which, among other things, eliminated anti-discrimination measures for LGBTQ people and required transgender individuals to use bathrooms in state facilities that correspond to the gender assigned to them at birth. Along with Tennessee and Arkansas, North Carolina also banned municipalities from passing anti-discrimination measures.
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