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.
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The Justice Department and the state of North Carolina announced Monday that they were taking each other to court over the sweeping anti-LGBT law. It forced the federal government to step in last week to warn North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory to stop implementing the law or risk losing millions of dollars in funding. It is unconscionable that the government is placing a target on their backs to advance this discriminatory political agenda.
The Equality for All Act, filed Tuesday, will protect “all North Carolinians against discrimination in all walks of life”, the bill states.
“This is a new, sensitive issue for people on all sides”, he said, adding, “Now the Justice Department is making a civil-rights claim that every employer and every university must have gender expression and gender identity for bathrooms”.
The law in question, referred to as House Bill 2 (HB2), requires self-described transgender individuals to use the public restroom that corresponds with their true gender; according to the Justice Department, such legislation allows for the “practice of employment discrimination on the basis of sex” and is in “direct violation of federal laws”.
Lynch, a North Carolina native, shredded the statewide ordinance to pieces. Lawsuits for and against the law have also been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, leaders of the Republican-controlled state Legislature, and a conservative legal organization.
However, Lynch said the Justice Department is monitoring other jurisdictions that have passed or considered laws similar to North Carolina’s.
The state instead sued the federal government, asking a judge to rule that it was not violating federal law.
A sign protesting a recent North Carolina law restricting transgender bathroom access adorns the bathroom stalls at the 21C Museum Hotel in Durham, North Carolina May 3, 2016.
North Carolina officials said the DOJ had a “radical reinterpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act”, Fox News reported.
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The letter says cabinet members shouldn’t make travel requests to the two states “until the situation changes”.
