North Carolina’s The News & Observer asked local transgender residents to talk about their experiences and the impact of North Carolina’s new anti-LGBT law on their daily lives.

On March 23, North Carolina became the first state in the country to pass a law broadly banning transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity in publicly run facilities and schools. The measure, House Bill 2 (HB2), went from a bill to law in a special session hastily convened to overturn a municipal ordinance passed in Charlotte. The ordinance provided nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people, including allowing transgender individuals to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity.

Anti-LGBT activists who pushed for the passage of the North Carolina law cited the repeatedly debunked myth that nondiscrimination protections for transgender people would allow male sexual predators to dress up as women and sneak into women's restrooms. On April 10, The News & Observer published a video of transgender people living in North Carolina’s Triangle area between Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill, who talked about “their experiences and the impact of HB2 on their lives”:

Interviewing transgender people themselves is one of the best practices in GLAAD’s media guide for reporting on LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances. With bills similar to North Carolina’s HB2 on the horizon in Tennessee and Kansas, it’s imperative that media outlets follow The News & Observer’s lead and highlight the stories of the people these discriminatory laws impact.