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HB2 opponents gather to get governor's ear

About 200 people gathered outside the North Carolina Governor's Mansion Saturday afternoon, the latest in a series of protests against a new statewide anti-discrimination law that fails to protect people based on sexual preference or gender identity.

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Candace Sweat
RALEIGH, N.C. — About 200 people gathered outside the North Carolina Governor's Mansion Saturday afternoon, the latest in a series of protests against a new statewide anti-discrimination law that fails to protect people based on sexual preference or gender identity.

"Pat McCrory, are you listening," they chanted, "We want better."

They are concerned that a law that requires that transgender people to use the restroom that matches the gender on their birth certificate creates more confusion than it solves.

Georgia Springer says it leaves transgender people like her son unprotected.

"There are transmen and women and nonbinaries (those who don't identify as either male or female) that are being forced into bathrooms that align with their biological gender making them and the people around them more uncomfortable," she said.

Karli Rabi lives as a woman but has no immediate plans for a surgical transition. She says the law will not keep her out of the ladies' room.

"I really don't care about the law. I'm going to do what I feel I must do," she said. "It's just the way I am. At my age, it's like, what are they going to do to me? I've been through so much already."

"We want to be able to have our families live peacefully and our children go to school and not have anxiety and difficulties," Springer said.

Supporters of the law say it is more about safety – for women and children in restrooms – than discrimination. Some of those supporters gathered in the same spot earlier in the week to urge McCrory and lawmakers to stand their ground against pressure to repeal the law.

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