History-Making Trans Athlete Blasts North Carolina's HB2 'Compromise'

You can count Team USA duathlete Chris Mosier among those who aren’t pleased by North Carolina’s bathroom bill “compromise .”

The North Carolina legislature approved legislation early Thursday that would repeal House Bill 2 (or HB2) which bars transgender people from using the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity. Still, many LGBTQ rights advocates pointed out that the “compromise” bill, House Bill 142, includes new provisions that block nondiscrimination protections , effectively “doubling down” on the anti-LGBTQ efforts that HB2 enshrined.  

Mosier, who became the first transgender athlete to make a U.S. national team in 2015 and appeared in ESPN’s Body Issue last year, spoke out against the new legislation on Twitter Thursday. HB142, he wrote, leaves members of the trans community at particular risk.  

Later, Mosier pointed to the fact that the HB2 “compromise” had reportedly been expedited by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The NCAA had threatened to keep all of its championship games out of the Tar Heel State through at least 2022 if HB2 was not repealed by Thursday.

The NBA, which pulled its 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carolina because of HB2, has yet to make a public statement on the “compromise” a fact which did not go unnoticed by Mosier. 

He then added: 

HB2 has been, of course, an unmitigated disaster for North Carolina, with celebrities and business leaders alike speaking out against it. On Monday, the Associated Press calculated that the bill would cost the state over $3.76 billion in lost revenue over the next 12 years.

In the end, North Carolina opted not to heed Mosier’s words or, frankly, those of other LGBTQ rights advocates . Gov. Roy Cooper signed HB142 into law Thursday afternoon. 

For more ways to combat bigotry, check out the Queer Voices newsletter .