NC’s Bathroom Bill violates Civil Rights Act according to DOJ letter
North Carolina’s anti-queer House Bill 2 — which has brought the Tar Heel state more bad attention and coverage than it could have ever expected — 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 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 HB 2. But, Gov. Pat McCrory is not backing down…
“A claim by the Obama administration charges that one part of House Bill 2, which requires state employees in public government buildings and students in our universities to use a restroom, locker room and shower facility that match their biological sex, is now in violation of federal law. The Obama administration has not only staked out its position for North Carolina, but for all states, universities and most employers in the U.S.
“The right and expectation of privacy in one of the most private areas of our personal lives is now in jeopardy. We will be reviewing to determine the next steps.”
