TOW #24- Visual Text

The North Carolina bathroom laws that have recently been passed have caused some great controversy.  One particular individual, Nate Beeler, an editorial cartoonist for The Columbus Dispatch, published a cartoon regarding the law.  In the image, there is a men's bathroom and a women's bathroom next to one another.  The transgender bathroom, marked by a question mark is replaced with an exit door.  The law that was passed called the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act in schools and government buildings says that people must use the bathroom that corresponds with their "biological sex".  This refers to the sex that is written on one's birth certificate.  For transgenders in North Carolina, this law has seriously frustrated some and made many feel uncomfortable.  The new state law signed by Governor Pat McCrory puts those who do not identify with the gender written on their birth certificate in a very weird position.  People are scared to go into public restrooms and often times will wait until they get back home before they feel safe enough to use the restroom.  In the cartoon, the artist uses the exit door to show how the transgender people are treated unfairly.  The law makes them feel like they might as well leave if they have to go to the bathroom.  Although it is exaggerated in the cartoon, this is how many people feel due to the new law.  Also, the normalcy of the men's and women's bathroom contrasts with the question mark written on the transgender bathroom door.  This shows how the law disregards their needs to feel comfortable and categorizes transgenders as outcasts.  The argument made by Beeler is very effective in getting his point across that the new North Carolina law is making many people uncomfortable and mistreating those who do not identify with the genders written on their birth certificates.  Some people have chosen to disobey this new law and many have chosen to speak up and against the new law.  Beeler is helping those who are outcasted by this new law by helping show what the law is really doing to transgenders.  Beeler uses contrast in the images as well as hyperbole in the law's restrictions in order to get this message across.  The feedback from North Carolina's population will be interesting to follow as this law is enforced and pushed by its population.