The US State Department informed North Carolina’s governor on Wednesday that the controversial House Bill 2 violates the civil rights of his citizens. Singer Bruce Springsteen cancelled his North Carolina tour over the law touted as anti-LGBT by opponents.
Advertisement
A Republican leader in the North Carolina legislature says the U.S. Justice Department’s contention that a new state law limiting LGBT anti-discrimination protections violates federal law is created to push President Barack Obama administration’s “radical left agenda”.
The DoJ letter also cites Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, 1964 that prohibits discrimination in education.
The state could lose federal money as a result of its action. However, the letter sent by the principal deputy assistant U.S. attorney general Vanita Gupta to the state of North Carolina appears as the first direct intervention of the federal government in the conflict. Critics say the laws are aimed at the LGBT community and are discriminatory. It also stopped transgender people from using lavatories that did not match the gender they were born with.
If the state does not comply with federal civil rights law, it could lose $4.5 billion in federal education funding alone, which works out to almost $500 per North Carolina taxpayer or a decrease of $2,500 in education funding per public school student, including those attending North Carolina’s public universities.
Missing from any of the reporting were statements from North Carolina lawmakers refusing to back down.
“We will take no action by Monday”, Moore told reporters.
Moore said the tight deadline was unreasonable and that the federal government’s position was inappropriate. “That’s not how this works”.
Governor of North Carolina Pat McCrory introduces candidate for U.S. Senate Thom Tillis (R-NC) at a campaign stop in Raleigh, North Carolina. “[This is] something we’ve never seen regarding Washington overreach in my lifetime in the most private areas of our personal life”.
“This is no longer just a North Carolina issue, because this conclusion by the Department of Justice impacts every state”, McCrory said during a forum with the state’s chamber of commerce.
The transgender bathroom bill was signed into law by McCrory on March 23, wrote CNN. Pat McCrory warning him that the law, House Bill 2, violates Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, which protects people from workplace discrimination based on sex. Among other restrictions, the law says transgender people have to use the bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex rather than their gender identity.
Justice gave the state until Monday to remedy the violations or risk billions of dollars in federal education funding.
The state has lost a string of big investment ventures over Governor McCrory’s decision to sign HB2 – which voided all local ordinances protecting LGBT rights, bans transgender people from using their preferred bathroom, and permits businesses to discriminate against LGBT people on the grounds of religious belief. If changes are not made to the law, it is possible that the Justice Department could file suit against the state.
Advertisement
North Carolina is among the states that fall under the 4th Circuit’s jurisdiction.
