LOS ANGELES — XHamster has joined a growing number of companies protesting North Carolina’s so-called “Bathroom Law,” House Bill 2, which passed on March 23.
HB2 was a response to a Charlotte City ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or sexual preference, allowing folks to use public restrooms intended for their self-identified sex.
Characterized by its opponents as “anti-LGBT discrimination,” a key point of contention is the new law’s requirement that students use the school bathroom associated with their birth gender.
Also objected to is the law’s prohibition against local jurisdictions enacting their own protectionist measures to thwart this law.
According to XHamster spokesperson Mike Kulich, the company is appalled by the recent events that have transpired in North Carolina.
“We have spent the last 50 years fighting for equality for everyone and these laws are discriminatory which XHamster.com does not tolerate,” Kulich stated, noting that access to XHamster will be blacked out in the state of North Carolina until further notice. “Judging by the stats of what North Carolinians watch, we feel this punishment is a severe one.”
“We will not standby and pump revenue into a system that promotes this type of garbage,” Kulich concluded. “We respect all sexualities and embrace them.”
While reports indicate that XHamster.com was indeed temporarily “blacked out” for visitors with an IP address associated with North Carolina, the site is back online at press time, displaying a pop-up to the state’s users decrying the “incredible hypocrisy of North Carolina,” which it characterizes as “the land where homophobia is law.”
The pop-up also reveals the vast number of “gay” and “shemale” category views (319,907 and 491,295 respectively), as well as the number of site searches for “gay” and “shemale” videos (50,612 and 48,585 respectively), all attributed to visitors from North Carolina. The pop-up concludes with a passionate plea for the state to stop its “homophobic insanity.”
XHamster’s move shows that adult entertainment companies are ready, willing and able to take a stand on issues they feel strongly about — and have the consumer reach to deliver their message to audiences around the world.