I read an opinion piece on Monday titled: “Why I am ashamed to be a North Carolinian.” This caught me a little off guard. Now, I understood what the author was referring to: the infamous House Bill 2 passed by the North Carolina General Assembly last week. I cannot say that I entirely blame them for headlining their article as they did. However, I personally do not believe that the passing of one bigoted bill, which will hopefully be overturned in the near future, is just cause to be ashamed of one’s entire state.

Let me make this clear, HB2 is a horrendous abomination of legislature that should offend any decent-minded North Carolinian. This bill discriminates against the LGBT community, undermines the power of municipal governments in North Carolina and goes completely against the rights and freedoms our state government is supposed to protect. 

Nonetheless, I am still very proud to call myself a North Carolinian.

During and after the NCGA passed this bill, there were protests from the gates of the executive mansion to the streets of downtown Charlotte. We, the people of North Carolina, know that this bill is against our common interests and denies unalienable rights of the people of our state.

I was in attendance at the emergency session of the NCGA last week. I saw politicians push this bill through as fast as they could, trying to dodge as much opposition as possible. I saw the bill read and voted on faster than any legislation that massive in the state’s recent history. I saw evil and fear in the form of crooked southern politicians who care only about their own self-interest. I saw the most executive public servants of my state pass a bill that undid so much work accomplished by civil rights leaders. 

But all the malice, hatred and fear in the world could not overcome what else I saw that day and the days after.

I saw defiance when the entire Democratic caucus stood up and left the Senate chamber, refusing to take part in such malicious legislation. I saw what I hope to be the final statute of hate in an era of lawmaking so dark for my state. And most importantly, I saw determination and hope from the people of North Carolina. 

Determination to act against these lawmakers from people who are sick and tired of a governing body that takes away their freedoms; hope for reform from human beings who share a common home and who know that this corruption will not go on for much longer. I saw and heard this from the people of this state who were passionate and refused to remain silent.

This culmination of hope and determination paired with the industrious persona shared by so many North Carolinians proved to me that this bill does not define who we are as a people. They proved by their reactions that we are not this. They proved that the point we are at in our history right now will be our nadir, and we will never regress this low again. 

These people, our people, proved that we will not give up or falter in the face of wickedness. They proved that we, as North Carolinians, will not stand for this any longer and that we will fight. This is why I am proud to call this state my home. This is why I love the people of North Carolina so greatly. This is why I’m proud to be a North Carolinian.