Players Retreat backs HB2 boycott

We own the Players Retreat bar and restaurant in Raleigh. The PR has been around for over 65 years. We are located by N.C. State University and have two great hotels on either side of us. Although the majority of our guests are local, we get a significant number of guests from out of town who are staying at the nearby hotels. Most of them are in town for conferences and sporting events. Although our business is great, since HB2, like other business in the service industry, we have seen a decline in out-of-town guests. That being said, we strongly support the North Carolina NAACP’s request for the national NAACP to call for a boycott of North Carolina until HB2 goes away. The sheer bigotry represented by HB2 is an insult to and embarrassment of our great state. All of us in the service industry and many more will continue to suffer from a boycott, but we should not point fingers at and vilify the NAACP. They have not caused our problems. Our fingers should be pointed downtown at Gov. Pat McCrory and the radical leaders of the legislature. They have taken us back to the darkness of hate, racism and bigotry of the 1950s. Prior to their reign, we have never had radicals running our great state. We have always had thoughtful, moderate Republican and Democratic leaders who worked to make our state one of the most respected in the nation. Those days seem to be long gone.

Studies have shown that 40 percent of all transgender people have considered suicide and an above average percentage of them have been assaulted. We don’t remember ever reading about a single child or adult being attacked by a transgender person. It always seems to be the other way around. In the words of Sam Cooke, let’s all hope “A Change Is Gonna Come”.

This story was originally published December 27, 2016 at 7:02 PM with the headline "Players Retreat backs HB2 boycott."