Transgender victim of sexual assault says she'll defy HB2
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Madeline Goss says when she was 16-years-old, she was in the early stages of her transition from a boy to a girl. Goss recalls one day going to the men's restroom - where she says a man followed her inside and took advantage.
"I was sexually assaulted and after that there was an AIDS scare," Goss says. "Thankfully it came out negative. It was a really bad lesson to learn that the men's room is not a safe place for me. I learned it the hard way."
After the experience, Goss decided to start using the women's restroom. But now it's against the law for her to do it.
Read more: Birth certificates, bouncers at the bathroom door?
House Bill 2 is the state law that in part requires people to use the restroom that matches their biological sex. Goss says she will continue to break the law.
"Law or no law I will never be put in that situation again," she stated.
Some say the HB2 law discriminates against the LGBT community.
On Sunday, Governor Pat McCrory appeared on NBC's Meet the Press defending the bill stating the new law protects the security of families, children and the private sector from government overreach.
"I don't think the government ought to be the HR director for businesses-whether it be in Charlotte or Greensboro or Boone, North Carolina," stated McCrory. "This is that fine line between how much does government tell the private sector in a regulatory way what to do."
HB2 eliminated LGBT anti-discrimination protections enacted by Charlotte city leaders and other municipalities.
So far, more than 160 companies are asking McCrory to repeal the bill, some threatening to boycott the state.
McCrory says he's talked to the transgender community in the past and following the bill's passage, but admits there needs to be more dialogue on the issue between both sides
"What we have to do is deal with this extremely new social norm that has come to our nation at a very quick period of time and have these discussions about the complexity of equality, while also balancing the concept of privacy-including privacy in the most private areas in life-which is a restroom, locker room or shower facility in our high schools."
The governor says one portion of the bill is poorly thought out and he wants to change a section to allow LGBT individuals the right to file a discrimination lawsuit in state courts.
