North Carolina Transgender Law is Being Challenged by the Justice Department

According to CNN the Justice Department has recently sent letters out to North Carolina’s governor and university leaders to notify them that the state’s transgender law violates the U.S Civil Rights Act.

The federal letters that were written stated that, “Access to sex-segregated restrooms and other workplace facilities consistent with gender identity is a term, condition or privilege of employment.

By denying such access to transgender individuals, whose gender identity is different from their gender assigned at birth, while affording it to similarly situated non-transgender employees, violates Title VII of the newly passed law.

The House Bill 2 of Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, outlines anti-discrimination protections against gay, intersex and transgender people, and legislates that in government buildings, individuals may only use restrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificates. The legislation also changes the definition of sex in the state’s anti-discrimination law to “the physical condition of being male or female, which is stated on a person’s birth certificate”.

Legislators reaction to NC Ordinance

Gov. Pat McCrory signed the bill into law on March 23 after the General Assembly went into special session earlier in the day to push through to legislation. The legislators were responding to a nondiscrimination ordinance that the city of Charlotte enacted. Another feature of the law is that It stops cities from passing anti-discrimination ordinances to protect gay and transgender identity.

In addition to enabling transgender people to legally use restrooms aligned with their gender identity, the Charlotte ordinance would have provided broad protections against discrimination in public accommodations in the state’s largest city.

The move enraged civil liberties groups, Democrats and others in the state. This called artist such as Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam to canceled concerts in the state and PayPal said it will not open a facility in North Carolina that would employ 400 people.

The state could potentially lose federal money after their reactions. The letters that were sent reminded university system leaders that they also accepted funding from groups like the “Office on Violence Against Women” by agreeing not to discriminate on the basis of gender identity and equality.

ACLU Lawsuit as an Ending Result

Days later after passing the bill, affected civilians filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to declare the law unconstitutional and a violation of federal laws banning sex discrimination.

The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina) made a statement saying that, “this discriminatory law violates civil rights protections and jeopardizes billions of dollars in federal funds for North Carolina and that the only way to reverse the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act is to repeal it.

As an ending result, the Family Research Council which is in favor of the bathroom law created an ad campaign that questioned why federal agencies are investigating this incident.

For more blogs related to law and case rulings, read “UN Panel to Say Assange has Been Held Arbitrarily”

Reference sources: CNN.com , FoxNews