Comparing "Now" to local datetimes in C# that makes the most sense to me

DateTimeComparion.cs

// create a DateTime in UTC Time
DateTime _startDate = TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeToUtc(Convert.ToDateTime("3/12/2023 20:00:00"), TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById("Eastern Standard Time"));

// Use UTC Now to compare UTC datetimes
DateTime _now = DateTime.UtcNow;

bool nowIsBefore = _now < _startDate;

bool nowIsEqual = _now == _startDate;

bool nowIsAfter = _now > _startDate;