Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
This looks like a great event. Get out and support these businesses. Here’s the press release:
On Saturday, June 11, a group of Asheville businesses will donate a percentage of their proceeds to LGBTQ nonprofits to protest House Bill 2.
Businesses have elected to donate anywhere from 1% to 20% of Saturday’s proceeds to an LGBTQ nonprofit of their choice. Most businesses will donate to Equality NC or Campaign for Southern Equality, two major advocacy groups working to repeal HB2.
“Corporate leaders have been some of the most vocal opponents of HB2,” says Marylee Sumeriski from Dancing Bear Toys. “Individually, small businesses get drowned out in the national conversation. We make a bigger impact if we work together.”
Sumeriski and her co-worker, Jordan Castelloe, organized Shop for Equality to give small businesses a platform make their voices heard.
“It impacts small businesses like ours that thrive on the tourism industry as we watch conferences, shows, exhibits and concerts continue to cancel their visits due to the legislation,” says Noora Cox from Green Sage. “And more importantly it impedes on the development and growth of the economy and community of WNC as more and more businesses and homeowners look elsewhere to settle.”
“It’s really an issue of human rights,” says Sarah Evers, owner of Dancing Bear Toys. “We want all of our customers and community members to be treated with equal dignity and respect.”
Participating businesses include Edna’s of Asheville, Green Sage Cafe, Early Girl Eatery, King Daddy’s Chicken and Waffles, Patton Avenue Pet Company, Blackbird Frame and Art, Dancing Bear Toys, Instant Karma, and THE BLOCK Off Biltmore. For a complete and updated list of participants, please visit www.shopforequality.wordpress.com.
HB2 isn’t about L, G, B or T.
§ 115C-521.2. Single-sex multiple occupancy bathroom and changing facilities. 31
(a) Definitions. – The following definitions apply in this section: 32
(1) Biological sex. – The physical condition of being male or female, which is 33 stated on a person’s birth certificate.
So, I call bullsh*t. Unadulterated bullsh*t. But keep pretending, Tex, that this is some sorta “privacy” issue (utter nonsense) or “State rights” issue. Just like calls of State’s Rights were all about slavery (go ahead, deny that, too), this was all about keeping the transgender community in its place, with a heaping side of keeping the rest of the NC populace in its place. Don’t want those old folks, black folks, and homosexuals getting too uppity and suing in State court for work discrimination, do ye?
Your bigoted movement has already lost the argument. The question is how long it’s gonna take you all to realize it. Perhaps it will be when McCrory is shown the door. But I doubt even then. Bigots rarely learn how to not be bigots. They just slink away until some other demagogue gives them the opportunity to act up.
But you don’t care one way or another, do ya? You’re just here for the paycheck.
I wonder if Rebecca Hecht’s businesses will be participating? Or does she only wield her power of organized protest when (she thinks) it serves her own business interest?