Sir Elton John has some harsh words for the governor at the center of the North Carolina bathroom bill controversy.
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In an op-ed published in The Hill, the pop icon ripped North Carolina governor Pat McCrory for his “dangerous” ignorance of transgender issues, which has led to a “failure of compassion” in the debate over whether states should require individuals to use restrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates.
It’s a message we hear far too often. This brand of ignorance deliberately shuts out the perspective of an already marginalized community. It’s dangerous, and it goes beyond bathrooms. As the father of two children, I would hope their world is free of discriminatory, hateful legislation like North Carolina’s.
Forcing transgender people to use the bathroom of a gender with which they don’t identify isn’t just inconvenient or impractical. For many, especially young students still grappling with their transition, it can be traumatic, and at worst, unsafe.
The failure of McCrory and other lawmakers to see this is a failure of compassion, a failure to recognize the difficult and frequently unwelcoming world transgender people must navigate every day, stigmatized by the fear and ignorance of others.
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John urged McCrory and other “bathroom bill” supporters to cease their efforts and learn some compassion for the transgender community. “They need to recognize the existence of trans people, and they need to acknowledge that all people have a fundamental desire—and a fundamental right—to be treated fairly,” he wrote.
The North Carolina bathroom controversy has inspired a number boycotts from celebrities and corporations that have not expressed similar reservations in the past about associating with anti-gay regimes in the Middle East, which have led to charges of hypocrisy.
Elton John, who played at right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh’s wedding in 2010, once had a scheduled concert in Egypt abruptly canceled after he described Jesus Christ as a “super-intelligent gay man.”
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