Thursday, March 24, 2016

We Are Not This

Following the terrible attacks in Belgium

the governor of this poet's home state
Pat McCrory

thought the wisest course of action

to preclude such a thing
happening in North Carolina

would be to pass a bill
which undoes the right
of transgender people

to terrorize our public restrooms
and hopelessly confuse us

by using the men's or women's room
as corresponds to their gender identity

and not the one
to which they were assigned at birth

and in addition
which prohibits municipalities
from passing their own ordinances

which cater
to transgender people

or to the rest
of the LGBT community at all.

And thus
North Carolina
remains a safe place

for Pat McCrory

(for now).

This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.