Kennedy Waterman - A year ago, North Carolina passed America's first bathroom bill. It's still feeling the pain.

Around this time last year, North Carolina was the first state to pass a law forbidding transgender people from using the restroom they identify with. HB 2, nicknamed "the bathroom bill," also prohibits local governments from passing non-discrimination ordinances. A year later, North Carolina is still hurting. It has cost them 630 million dollars, plus thousands of jobs. Some TV shows pulled their programming, and artists like Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and Demi Lovato cancelled their concerts. When the NCAA pulled all 2016 and 2017 tournaments from the star, North Carolina lost 14 million dollars. The only good thing to come from this is that it has motivated several states to pass laws protecting transgender people.

The article was written March 23rd, but it talks about an entire year of information. The author is very unbiased, stating only the facts and not voicing an opinion on the topic. Before reading the article, I knew about the bathroom bill and the amount of backlash it created, but I didn't know it had cost North Carolina so much. I think this article was written for those who wanted to see how the state had been impacted after the bill. It's very important because it reminds us that big, controversial laws like HB 2 don't just have an impact the day they are passed, but for years to come. This can be related to segregation in the 1960s where black people were not allowed to use the restroom, water fountain, school, etc. of their choice.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/23/us/hb-2-fallout-one-year-later-trnd/index.html