US Attorney General Loretta E Lynch announced the lawsuit on Monday, which argues that North Carolina’s so-called “bathroom law” violates parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other federal laws, and that the state is engaging in a “pattern or practice of sex discrimination”.
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Though the legality of the law remains to be seen, if the federal agencies interpret the law as discriminatory, which several have indicated they intend to do, institutional funding could be at stake.
Since then, the state has been riven by business cancellations and boycotts from music stars such as Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam. Nearly 200 corporate leaders from across the country, including Charlotte-based Bank of America, have urged the measure’s repeal. McCrory has repeatedly expressed his intent to keep the law intact, but “there are no questions here as to the direction of the Department of Justice and the resources it wants to put toward fighting discrimination”, McLaughlin said.
Buzzfeed’s Dominic Holden notes that “the Justice Department’s argument is not new to North Carolina”.
Known as HB2, the new law forbids people to use the bathrooms of their gender identity, instead of the sex on their birth certificates. Ting’s office says California’s proposal is the most comprehensive taken up so far.
The North Carolina drama came to a head hours before the California vote, according to the Associated Press.
Several other states have proposed similar laws in recent months limiting protections for gay, bisexual and transgender people.
President of the UNC 17 campus system, Margaret Spellings, responded on Monday saying the university takes “its obligations to comply with federal non-discrimination statutes” very seriously and will have a special board meeting of governors.
Not at all. McCrory has repeatedly said that what happens in North Carolina will have national ramifications. An additional $800 million in federally backed loans for students who attend the public universities could also be at risk.
“While other states are making it tougher and more political to use the bathroom, today we can make it easier for everyone to use the bathroom by simply changing the sign on the door and allowing anyone to use it”, the Los Angeles Times reported Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, said.
“The administration shouldn’t condition the ability of women to receive an education on their willingness to shower with members of the opposite sex”, Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing the families, said in a statement. “We’ve moved beyond those dark days”.
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The fight for transgender rights has just begun, but in North Carolina, the epicenter of controversy, things seem to be getting even more heated.
