Carolina Blues

NC’s Bathroom Bill Violates Civil Rights Act According To DOJ Letter

236124-hb2-960x540

North Carolina’s anti-LGBT House Bill 2 — which the state’s own attorney general, Democrat Roy Cooper, has called a “national embarrassment” — is one step closer to being overturned. The Charlotte Observer reports that the Justice Department has sent a letter to the North Carolina governor Pat McCrory notifying him that the law violates the U.S. Civil Rights Act. State officials must stop enforcing the law by Monday, or else risk losing millions in federal education funding.

According to the letter, HB2 — which not only dictates that North Carolina citizens must use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender assigned to them at birth, but also strikes down local LGBT non-discrimination ordinances throughout the state — is “in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 0f 1964…

“Title VII prohibits an employer from discriminating against an individual on the basis of sex and from otherwise resisting the full enjoyment of Title VII rights…

“Federal courts and administrative agencies have applied Title VII to discrimination against transgender individuals based on sex, including gender identity….

“Access to sex-segregated restrooms and other workplace facilities consistent with gender identity is a term, condition or privilege of employment. Denying such access to transgender individuals, whose gender identity is different from the gender assigned at birth, while affording it to similarly situated non-transgender employees, violates Title VII …

“HB 2…is facially discriminatory against transgender employees on the basis of sex because it treats transgender employees, whose gender identity does not match their biological sex, as defined by HB2, differently from similarly situated non transgender employees…”

A federal lawsuit has already been filed against HB2. Cooper has refused to defend the law in court, and corporations and celebrities alike have come out against the law in recent weeks.

Don't forget to share:

Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...

We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated