Observer Forum: Letters to the editor 04.15.16
Show me evidence that supports HB2
In response to “McCrory seeks to walk back part of N.C.’s HB2” (April 13):
Since I constantly hear supporters say HB2 was enacted to protect our children from predators masquerading as transgender persons, allow me to offer a simple solution:
Legislators should release the evidence of this transgender predatory problem that created a need for a special legislative session – it must have been an overwhelming immediate threat – or they should admit that HB2 was a “solution in search of a problem” and repeal this government overreach.
Considering the damage HB2 has done to our state, it’s the least they can do.
Matthew Parrinello, Charlotte
Transgender agenda puts women at risk
Madness! The LGBT community calls this “anti-LGBT legislation,” when in fact it is pro-women’s rights and protections.
Laws that allow men, transgender or pretending to be, to walk into a women’s restroom put women at risk. This is the consequence of this transgender agenda.
Unelected companies and organizations strong-arming a state to bow to this agenda is wrong.
Guys use guy restrooms; girls use girl restrooms. All else is madness!
Wendy Petzel, Fort Mill, S.C.
Revised HB2 opens lawsuit floodgate
Once again, Gov. McCrory could not have gotten it more wrong on the right to sue for discrimination.
State discrimination claims need a filter and the federal system has one.
HB2 may have many flaws, but it was pure genius to close the floodgate to unworthy claims in state court and send state claims through the federal EEOC system, rather than create a new state agency for that filter purpose.
Now McCrory unwisely wants to open the floodgate again. Big mistake.
Bob Lilien, Charlotte
N.C. AG doing same thing magistrates did
In response to “N.C.’s attorney general must go” (April 14 Forum):
I laughed out loud when I read Forum writer Latt Moretz’s claim that employees informing employers that they won’t do the jobs they were hired to do is tantamount to quitting.
He should remember that the N.C. legislature codified into law the legal right of government employees, specifically magistrates and registers of deeds, to keep jobs that they don’t want to do.
What’s good for the goose is surely good for the N.C. Attorney General.
Heather Stancil, Belmont
Urge commissioners to do right by CMS
In response to “Surprise report met with hope, questions” (April 14):
The writer is executive director of the Council for Children’s Rights.
Whatever your view of student assignment, there is reason for optimism in the draft guiding principles released by the CMS board.
The principles will support a plan that can both preserve nearby home schools and reduce concentrations of poverty to improve outcomes for all.
But our children and their teachers cannot succeed with inadequate facilities and programs.
In particular, the improvement of facilities and programs in the center of the district is essential to the success of choice as a tool for reducing concentrations of poverty.
Folks in all parts of the county should unite in demanding that county commissioners both put CMS’s bond referendum on the ballot and fully fund its requested operating budget.
There is no good reason to make our children wait.
Bob Simmons, Charlotte
Proposed CMS plan good for all students
I applaud the CMS board for planning to keep our neighborhood communities together and deciding to integrate more low-income students into magnet schools.
As a graduate of Barringer Academic Center, which combines magnet and low-income students as well as students of all races in an embracing environment while meeting the academic needs of its students, I believe that this plan will benefit everyone!
Christine Mendoza, Charlotte
Moms with strollers: Stick to sidewalks
Driving to work on Laurel Avenue last week, I passed a young mother pushing a stroller in a lane of oncoming traffic.
There was a perfectly good sidewalk on the other side of the street.
It would seem that Mom was betting her infant’s life that every driver who passed her was sober, alert and/or not glued to a cell phone. Hardly a wager worth placing.
William Sitton Jr., Charlotte
This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Observer Forum: Letters to the editor 04.15.16."