The Last Civil Rights Frontier

Published in El País
(Spain) on 4 April 2016
by Pablo Ximenez de Sandoval (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Jamie Agnew. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
The discrimination against transsexuals in the bathrooms of North Carolina has sparked the outrage of businesses and artists alike.

In 1985, the existence of Sun City, an apartheid-era South African resort in which the cream of the elite white ruling crop enjoyed luxury vacations and performances from A-list stars, came to the attention of E Street Band guitarist Steve van Zandt. Van Zandt decided that to play there was to become an accomplice to apartheid, and so, he began the process of convincing his friends to mount a boycott. Out of the campaign came the song “Sun City,” a collaboration among Bruce Springsteen, U2, Peter Gabriel, Keith Richards, Bonnie Raitt, and more than 50 other artists. “You can’t buy me, I don’t care what you pay, Don’t ask me Sun City, Because I ain’t gonna play,” some of the verses said.

Springsteen, van Zandt, and the rest of the E Street Band did not play in South Africa until 2014. This Sunday, they were set to do the same in Greensboro, North Carolina. However, this Friday, the group published a statement on its website stating that they were canceling the concert, and that they would provide a refund to those who had bought tickets. What was the reason behind this? It was another boycott for another type of discrimination. North Carolina has just passed House Bill 2, otherwise known as the “Bathroom Bill,” which forces everyone to use the bathroom that corresponds to their sex at birth. This may seem like common sense, but in reality, it represents an attack on transsexuals, a group that often suffers discrimination in either of the two bathrooms. Last week, PayPal canceled plans to open a new global operations center in Charlotte in protest of the new law, and Hollywood has threatened to avoid filming in North Carolina during the making of any future productions. The governors of Vermont, New York and Washington state have banned politicians and civil servants from taking publicly funded trips to North Carolina, which in practice represents a near severing of ties.

“This political correctness has gone amok,” said North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, who considers his new law to simply be common sense. Perhaps he is unaware of cities like West Hollywood, the gay capital in the south of California, where not only can you not discriminate against transsexuals, but you cannot discriminate, full stop. “Oh no, political correctness? That excuse that progressives use to try and get us to abandon our values,” some Republican leaders appear to be saying. The bathroom stalls have become the new battleground in the war against social advances, and the enemy is political correctness. In their eyes, to allow discrimination on religious grounds is to defend religious freedom; racism is simply freedom of expression; to label all Mexicans rapists and drug dealers is a legitimate point in a debate on the issues with immigration; and proposing a ban on all Muslims entering the U.S. in order to fight extremism is a valid argument. Make no bones about it. What Pat McCrory has said is a disgrace and it is, in fact, he who is running amok with his own brand of “political correctness.”


La última frontera de los derechos civiles

La discriminación de los transexuales en los baños de Carolina del Norte desata la indignación de artistas y empresas

No fue la más conocida de las causas justas a las que se entregó el rock de los ochenta, pero viene a cuento. En 1985, el guitarrista de la E Street Band Steve van Zandt conoció de la existencia de Sun City, un resort en la Sudáfrica del apartheid en el que la élite de la élite blanca disfrutaba de vacaciones de lujo y de actuaciones de músicos de primera fila. Van Zandt decidió que tocar allí era hacerse cómplice del apartheid, y empezó a convencer a sus amigos de montar un boicot. La campaña se tradujo en una canción colectiva llamada Sun City en la que participaron Bruce Springsteen, U2, Peter Gabriel, Keith Richards, Bonnie Raitt y más de medio centenar de artistas. “No me puedes comprar / No importa cuánto pagues / No me pidas que vaya a Sun City / Porque no pienso tocar”, decía una de las estrofas.

Springsteen, Van Zandt y el resto de la E Street Band no tocaron en Sudáfrica hasta 2014. Este domingo iban a hacerlo en Greensboro, Carolina del Norte. El viernes, la web del artista publicó un comunicado diciendo que cancelaba el concierto y devolvería el dinero de las entradas. La razón es otro boicot por otro tipo de discriminación. Carolina del Norte acaba de aprobar la ley HB2, la ley del baño, que obliga a utilizar a todo el mundo el baño correspondiente a su sexo. Puede parecer sentido común, pero supone un atropello para los transexuales, que a menudo sufren discriminación en cualquiera de los dos. La semana pasada, PayPal suspendió un centro de operaciones global en Charlotte, por los mismos motivos. Hollywood ya ha amenazado con vetar a Carolina del Norte para cualquier producción. Los gobernadores de Vermont, Nueva York y el Estado de Washington, además del Ayuntamiento de San Francisco y otros, han prohibido los viajes de políticos y funcionarios pagados con dinero público a Carolina del Norte, lo que en la práctica es casi una ruptura de relaciones.

“Esto es la corrección política sacada de madre”, ha dicho el gobernador de Carolina del Norte, Pat McCrory, que considera su ley de sentido común. Quizá no sabe que hay ciudades como West Hollywood, la capital gay del sur de California, donde no solo no se puede discriminar a los transexuales, sino a nadie. ¡Ah, la corrección política, esa excusa con la que los progresistas quieren hacernos tragar con el fin de nuestros valores!, parecen decir algunos líderes republicanos. El baño de los bares es la nueva trinchera en la guerra contra los avances sociales, y el enemigo es la corrección política. Así, permitir la discriminación por motivos religiosos es defender la libertad religiosa; el racismo es libertad de expresión; tachar a los mexicanos de violadores y narcotraficantes es una exageración legítima para debatir los problemas de la inmigración; y una propuesta de prohibir la entrada de musulmanes en Estados Unidos para combatir el terrorismo es un argumento válido. Oiga, eso que está usted diciendo es una barbaridad. No, es usted, que está sacando de madre la corrección política y ya no se puede decir nada.
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