Not so long ago I said that North Carolina’s HB2 law lead to me to feel helpless.

I feel much less so today. After Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the that justice department is suing North Carolina over it’s HB2 law, I’m feeling much better. Not so much because of the lawsuit, but because her speech was a full throated support of transgender Americans like me. If you have not yet watched the speech, I recommend doing so. This video does have captions.

Just as the passing of the law itself left me feeling helpless, this speech brings back my hope. It reminds me that while there are a whole lot of people in my country who don’t think I, and my trans and nonbinary siblings, should exist in public, there are also many who back us. Lynch’s speech does not hold back in support of us, and shows that even people in power believe we have a right to the same things as anyone else.