Because none of my coworkers or students knew I was trans, I thought I’d be immune to the effects of government-sanctioned discrimination. I was wrong—I witnessed the consequences of HB2 every day. The first two professional jobs that I had following my graduation from a fairly liberal, midsized university in Virginia were both in North Carolina, a stark contrast from the openly queer lifestyle that I had taken for granted for while serving as president of my university’s Gay-Straight Alliance. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms.