A sign protesting a recent North Carolina law restricting transgender bathroom access is seen in the bathroom stalls at the 21C Museum Hotel in Durham, North Carolina May 3, 2016. “It must be put on hold while it is reviewed by the court”.
Advertisement
In March, Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and the ACLU of North Carolina, along with co-counsel Jenner and Block, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. Their case was consolidated with a similar challenge brought forth by the Justice Department.
“This is absurd and ridiculous”, Fitzgerald, who was present at Monday’s court hearing, said.
Gov. Pat McCrory and State Republican leaders will be defending the bill, but Attorney General Roy Cooper, who has said many times that he disagrees with House Bill 2, has said his office won’t be defending the governor or the state. The law requires people to use bathrooms and locker rooms in government buildings in accordance with the gender listed on their birth certificate. It also excludes gender identity and sexual orientation from statewide antidiscrimination protections.
The restrictions put transgender people, particularly students at public schools, in an untenable position, said Chris Brook, one of the American Civil Liberties Union lawyers challenging the measure.
HB 2 has received strong pushback from the business community, culminating with the National Basketball Association pulling its All-Star Game out from the state.
The Republican lawyers urged U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder to deny the preliminary injunction sought by transgender plaintiffs, but the judge said he’d issue a ruling later. They argued the state had no record of privacy complaints or security concerns related to transgender people that would warrant such a measure.
“All I want is to use the appropriate restroom, in peace, just like everyone else”, 28-year old Joaquín Carcaño told the court. “It’s humiliating that this law separates me from my peers and treats me like a second-class citizen”.
She attends high school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, where until HB 2 passed she used the women’s restroom in keeping with the guidance given to her by medical professionals. UNC President Margaret Spellings said she was eager for a resolution to the suit, which also named the university system as a defendant.
Heavy metal band Slipknot took to Facebook on Monday (Aug. 1) to express their frustration with North Carolina’s anti-LGBT law, but assured fans the band will not cancel their show set for Tuesday in Charlotte.
Advertisement
Judge Schroeder seemed to be sympathetic to this logic.
