EXCLUSIVE: Raven-Symone and Clay Aiken Talk to Transgender Duo About North Carolina's Anti-LGBT Law on 'The Vi
Raven-Symone and Clay Aiken visited North Carolina recently, where they spoke to two transgender individuals about the state’s controversial LGBT bill that bars trans people from using public bathrooms for the gender they identify as.
During the sit-down interview, which will air on Wednesday's episode of The View, Skye Thomson and Madeline Goss open up about their personal experiences dealing with the ramifications of House Bill 2, detailing separate incidents where they, as well as a friend, were thrown out of a bathroom because others complained.
When Aiken asks what was more difficult, following the law or not, they both said “following it.”
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“If you really are an ally, you have to understand that a trans woman is a woman, a trans man is a man and they use the restroom that corresponds to that gender identity. That’s kind of step one in being an ally,” says Goss, a transgender woman.
While Goss and Thomson, who identifies as a man, understand that there will be people who will be uncomfortable, they don't view it as a “responsibility” among trans people to accept that fact.
“It’s just an unfortunate reality that the day we live in, people are uncomfortable with the way we are,” Goss says. “That’s why it’s really important for people to understand we’re just trying to live our lives. We’re not asking for special treatment. We just want to be able to go about our everyday lives, just like you and Raven.”
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“We’re not getting in anybody’s way or anything,” adds Thomson.
“That’s the problem with this: It singles us out. It takes us and makes us separate,” Goss shares “We just want to go about our everyday lives and be who we are and have people accept us. I can’t do that if I have to go to the men’s room every time I use the bathroom because it’s going to single me out as a person.”
Symone and Aiken, who ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014, also took to the streets, speaking with one older married couple at a local diner about whether they were for or against the HB2 bill.
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Notably, the couple disagreed on the bill’s merits. The husband admitted he’d “walk out” of the bathroom if Caitlyn Jenner walked into the men’s room. “I don’t wanna be in the same restroom as Caitlyn Jenner,” he explained. When Symone asked where Jenner was supposed to go, the husband replied, “That’s Caitlyn’s problem, not mine.”
The wife, a Brit, was on the other end of the spectrum, saying that England “would probably laugh themselves silly” over HB2. “I just think it’s a big nothing,” she said.
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT.
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Recently, Selena Gomez explained why she went forward with her North Carolina concert in June. Watch the video below for more.