North Carolina's Anti-Trans Legislation Just Got Some Much Needed Context

Calling bullshit on politicians has never been easier — if you can do it in 140 characters or less.

In response to a North Carolina bill signed into law on Wednesday that bans transgender people from using bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity, one Twitter user had a retort worthy of a mic-drop.

"::children get gunned down at a school:: HEY WELL STUFF HAPPENS ::trans person uses the bathroom:: WE MUST PROTECT THE CHILDREN", it reads.

Ahmed wasn't the only one to recognize a sanctimonious double standard in the legislation. Twitter user Mike Gianella fired out a near-identical response.

"'We need laws to keep bathrooms same sex. Children must be kept safe.' 'School shootings are tragic, but onerous laws hurt our freedoms,'" Gianella wrote.  

The ire stems from the repeated failures of politicians to enact gun control legislation in the wake of mass shootings like the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

Pointing to inaction on gun control is an effective — if trendy — way to highlight political hypocrisy. In the wake of Tuesday's terror attacks in Brussels, Belgium, Twitter user Bobby Big Wheel used the social media platform to compare the rhetoric that spread post-Brussels to that of Sandy Hook.

"26 dead in Brussels: 'Close the borders, it could happen here!' 26 dead in Newtown: "That's just how it is in America, get used to it.'" he wrote. 

The tweets won't change the world. In the developed world, the U.S. continues to top the charts in gun violence; and the outlook is dim for trans people in North Carolina seeking acceptance for their most basic truths. 

But it's context like this that gives us a new way to grasp this reality — and it's a hard pill to swallow.