I once had a six-hour layover in Newark, N.J.

That’s not even the scary part.

I was escorting my seven- and five-year-old nephews back from Vermont to North Carolina solo. I couldn’t smoke. The little one had a bladder infection and had to pee every 15 minutes.

Because the big one was “too big” to go into the “lady bathroom” with me, and there was no way in hell I’d let him stand outside it by himself, I had to make the choice to send them into the men’s room together. Every 15 minutes.

Every 15 minutes, despite the fact that they assured me they’d hold hands, go into a stall, scream really loud so I could hear if anyone talked to them, and wash their hands with soap, I stood on eggshells right by the entrance to that men’s room. Those two littles were my entire heart and I was terrified for their safety any time they were out of my sight.

It certainly never crossed my mind that a transgendered man would snatch them any more than it ever would that a transgendered woman would attack me in the lady bathroom. Because why would it?

2HB2 is not about protecting “our women and children,” as one N.C. elected official so adorably put it. It’s about discrimination, pure and simple. #wearenotthis #ncnative