Because McCrory did not respond with compliance – instead against the federal government – the Department followed through on filing a suit against the state Monday afternoon. She says the law only serves to “harm innocent Americans”. In her view, this is the new Jim crow, sex discrimination in violation of federal civil rights law. McCrory maintained that the Obama administration is manipulating civil rights law for the sake of the transgender community (because, you know, wanting to protect those people is apparently a bad thing).
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This story has been corrected to reflect that a state association of health officers no longer opposes the California bill for gender-neutral restrooms.
It all started in March, with North Carolina’s introduction of a law that forces transgender people to use bathrooms according to whatever gender is written on their birth certificates, and not that with which they identify.
On Monday, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit in a separate federal court in North Carolina claiming that the law violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. “This is about the dignity and respect that we accord our federal citizens”.
The White House is calling a North Carolina law that limits protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people “mean-spirited” and “inconsistent with the values of fairness and equality and justice”.
Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, said he was co-authoring the legislation on behalf of “thousands of transgender individuals in the state of California who feel unsafe in bathrooms, who feel harassed in bathrooms, who are questioned when they walk into a bathroom”.
Almost 200 corporate leaders from across the country, including Charlotte-based Bank of America, have urged the law’s repeal, arguing it is bad for business because it makes recruiting talented employees more hard.
People who support HB 2 said the law protects the privacy and safety of individuals.
The law requires schools and other government-controlled facilities to restrict multiple-occupancy bathrooms to people of the same biological sex.
Lynch said the Justice Department is evaluating anti-LGBT proposals elsewhere in the country and could take similar measures against other states or municipalities that are found to violate federal anti-discrimination laws.
“We believe a court, rather than a federal agency, should tell our state, our nation and employers throughout the nation, what the law requires”, he said.
An April decision by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., preceded the Department of Justice’s letters.
“The Justice Department is making law for the federal government as opposed to enforcing it”, McCrory said.
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McCrory’s defiance could risk funding for the state’s university system and lead to a protracted legal battle. The university’s governing board scheduled a meeting for Tuesday to receive a private legal briefing from its top staff attorney. North Carolina may lose federal funding for essential services, and while the money may return someday, the stigma of discrimination that state Republicans have attached to the Tar Heel State won’t fade anytime soon.
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