Transgender Bathroom Brawl Punishes North Carolina Mayors Twice

  • Rural Republican lawmakers regulate Democratic urban centers
  • As companies pull out, they punish the cosmopolitan places

Supporters rally outside the North Carolina state capitol in Raleigh on April 11, 2016, in support of a law that blocks rules allowing transgender people to use the bathroom aligned with their gender identity.

AP Photo/Gerry Broome
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In the battle over which bathrooms transgender people may use, North Carolina’s mayors are being pummeled by both sides.

A legislature dominated by rural Republicans punishes them for setting their own anti-discrimination policies. Then, corporations and entertainers respond with boycotts that affect North Carolina’s job-producing regions -- its cities.