North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson — who is currently seeking the Republican nomination for governor — made controversial statements regarding trans residents over the weekend, some of which mimic phrasing seen during the House Bill 2 (HB2) era.
The infamous Republican from Greensboro said he wouldn’t be “tearing society down” when he was discussing restroom policies for trans North Carolinians he would like to see if he became governor.
“We’re going to defend women in this state,” Robinson said, WUNC reported. “That means if you’re a man on Friday night, and all the sudden on Saturday, you feel like a woman, and you want to go in the women’s bathroom in the mall, you will be arrested — or whatever we got to do to you.”
Legislation targeting members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially trans individuals, has skyrocketed across the South, and North Carolina is no exception. In August 2023, three anti-LGBTQ+ bills were instilled as law under direction of Robinson’s Republican-led Senate, two of which targeted trans youth directly.
House Bill 808 (HB 808) makes it “unlawful for a medical professional to perform a surgical gender transition procedure on a minor or to prescribe, provide or dispense puberty blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones to a minor” while House Bill 574 bars trans girls from participating on sports teams that correlate with the gender they identify at both the K-12 and collegiate level.
Robinson has continued to make inflammatory comments regarding queer North Carolinians, who are estimated to make up over five percent of the state’s population. However, Robinson’s name-calling isn’t new in the North Carolina political world.
HB2 took the national stage in 2016 when the General Assembly approved what was dubbed the “most sweeping anti-LGBT bill in the nation,” which was followed by months of debate, anti-trans and anti-gay rhetoric and more.
In April 2016, hundreds of people gathered on the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion to cheer on then Gov. Pat McCrory and fellow Republicans who supported the law.
“This is a day that the Lord has made,” Republican State Senator Buck Newton said at the 2016 event as he pointed at LGBTQ+ groups who, he said, were working to attack North Carolina.
“They insist on forcing us to bow and kiss the ring of their political correctness theology.”
McCrory, who would ultimately lose his reelection after the HB2 fallout, continued to advocate for the policy, saying North Carolina needed to stand up against this “extremely new social norm.”
“What we’ve got to do is deal with this extremely new social norm that has come to our nation in a very quick period of time and have these discussions about the complexity of equality while also balancing the concept of privacy,” McCrory said.
HB2 resulted in one of the largest economic fallouts in state history. The state lost $4.8 billion in federal grants and contracts, over $40 million in business investments which resulted in the loss of over 1,250 jobs and more.
HB2 was ultimately repealed because of the backlash it received, and for a while, politicians didn’t comment as much on LGBTQ+ related issues in North Carolina.
Robinson’s statements regarding using street corners as public restrooms — while provocative and what some would consider offensive — aren’t new in North Carolina, but what they signify could mean a new era of harmful legislation for queer residents.
Current congressional Rep. Dan Bishop was the brain behind HB2, and he is now running for attorney general. Before HB2, The Charlotte Observer reported as a Mecklenburg commissioner almost a decade ago, he spoke out against a county ordinance to ban discrimination against queer residents, calling it “either a political stunt or a serious dagger at the heart of marriage.”
A pastor from Alamance County, Allen Mashburn, is running for lieutenant governor and has been seen with Robinson at campaign rallies. Qnotes reported on earlier comments Mashburn made regarding the LGBTQ+ community, including calling Pride month a “manifestation of moral decay,” and labeling trans persons and their allies as “descended into a state of utter madness.”
Returning to this era of HB2, anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric is a dangerous road, and fellow Republicans are already voicing their concerns as these individuals continue their crusade against North Carolina’s most vulnerable groups.
“Mark Robinson is history’s latest example of someone rising to power through hate,” said State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who is also running for the Republican nomination for governor, to WRAL.
Bill Graham, a Salisbury lawyer also running for governor, also issued a statement through his spokesperson Alex Baltzegar, saying if Robinson continued down this path, Republicans would lose the election.
“Mark Robinson is going to lose, and he will hurt all Republican candidates up and down the ballot if he’s the nominee,” Baltzegar said.
Robinson’s Holocaust denials are a very serious issue as well. Historically documented facts…just didn’t happen according to this man (who has been involved in politics for all of five years). Please tell me this man CAN’T be governor of NC. This stuff is getting scarier people!