Transgender voices in North Carolina: Devastated by new law

Some transgender people say they're suffering not only from the law's practical effects, but also from the emotional consequences of the state regulating deeply personal aspects of their identities.

The infantry soldier served three tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq before leaving the Army in 2015, according to discharge documents she showed to The Associated Press.

[...] she's trying to decide whether to follow through on plans to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — where she wouldn't be allowed to use women's restrooms — to finish her bachelor's degree.

Wearing a purple blouse and lipstick during a recent interview, she said the routine of military life helped her think less about her gender dysphoria, but she's resumed her transition since leaving the service.

Erica Lachowitz was leaving for work about two years ago when her daughter, then 6, helped convince her it was time to take a crucial step in living her identity.

[...] Lachowitz's company has supported her as she transitioned to living full-time as a woman.

[...] Lachowitz's focus is on raising her daughter to have good values, which sometimes means frank conversations about what's on the news: "All she sees on TV is ... 'no men in the women's room.'"

When the General Assembly reconvened for its legislative session last month, he drove to Raleigh to join those protesting the law, chanting and holding signs outside Republican House Speaker Tim Moore's office.

Wiseman, 37, lives with his wife and dog in a neighborhood of ranch homes near the Blue Ridge Parkway where families ride bikes and have yard sales.

Hearing the rhetoric surrounding the new law was devastating: It's real hard to hear every single day that you're a perversion.

Because that's what this bill says.

[...] because of the new law, she frequently carries around her Illinois birth certificate, which she changed to reflect her female gender after surgery a few years ago.

Carcano, a 27-year-old transgender man, works for UNC-Chapel Hill overseeing a project that provides health education and HIV testing.

Carcano said he joined the legal challenge to help counteract the message from the law's supporters, who have suggested criminals might try to use the wrong bathroom to target women and children.