A transgender southwest Floridian talked to Four in Your Corner ahead of her trip to North Carolina, where the state recently passed a controversial bathroom bill requiring people to use the restroom of the gender they were born with.
Since starting hormone replacement five years ago, Rickie Lane said she's never been happier with who she is.
"I feel comfortable in myself. I don't lie to anybody. It's important to be genuine. You get to a point in your life and say, well, this is what's important to me," Lane said.
Lane was born biologically male but said she's known since she was four-years-old she was truly a woman.
Her children and grandchildren love her for who she is now, but when she heads to North Carolina, she knows she may not feel the same acceptance from everyone.
"That was my first thing that went through my head was, well, I want to go see my children. Well, I can, as long as I don't drink any water," Lane said.
She means if she drinks water, she'll have to use the bathroom, and North Carolina passed a law requiring people to use the bathroom of the sex in which they were born.
The law also bans local governments from extending legal protections to gays and transgendered.
"It's wrong. I should not be discriminated against anymore than you should be," Lane said. "Does that mean I start collecting coffee cans now, or what, yanno?
This will be Lane's first trip to visit her kids in North Carolina since the law passed, and Lane said she'd rather go to jail than use the men's room.
"It's frightening. How would you feel about going into the men's room? Would you feel a little intimidated?" Lane said.
On the off chance Lane runs into North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, she has a message prepared:
"I would say, 'Well, when you recited the pledge of allegiance to the flag, how did it end? With 'liberty and justice for all?' or just for you?" Lane said.
Lane said some of her family is moving out of North Carolina because they don't feel it's progressive enough, especially in light of this new law.
