Hi. I am a sophomore at Odyssey Community School in Asheville. I am writing this letter as an outlet for voicing my opinion about the HB2 bill that was recently passed in North Carolina.
This bill is disguised as something that will protect citizens’ privacy in the state of North Carolina. However, the bill provokes discrimination and bullying to not only the LGBT community but also discriminates against people because of their religion, race, color, national origin, biological sex and handicap.
This world, sadly, is not perfect, not by a long stretch. I am growing up in a world already full of discrimination and hate. Progress has been made over many years; fights have been lost and won. This bill is not a step toward privacy and comfort, but millions of steps backward, toward a world that encourages hate, prejudice and inequity.
I urge my fellow students, adults, people of all walks of life to fight against this injustice and fight for a world without hatred against individuals.
— Grace
Odyssey Community School
Editor’s note: Xpress usually does not publish letters to the editor that do not fully identify their authors. We decided to make an exception in this letter and others from students on this topic because of the writers’ ages and in the interest of fostering community discussion around the issue.