Lynch Blasts North Carolina lawmakers over transphobic law.
The Justice Department Monday afternoon filed a federal lawsuit against North Carolina, backing up earlier assertions that the state’s transphobic bathroom law HB2 is a violation of the federal Civil Rights Act. United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the lawsuit in a press conference, saying, “This action is about a great deal more than bathrooms. This is about the dignity and respect we accord our fellow citizens.” Lynch then took aim at the premise of the law, calling it, “state-sponsored discrimination against transgendered individuals who seek to engage in [the] most private of functions in a place of safety and security.”
The lawsuit seeks to block enforcement of the North Carolina law, asserting that it “constitutes a pattern or practice of employment discrimination on the basis of sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
Speaking directly to the citizens of North Carolina, Lynch hoped to resolve a few misconceptions. “You have been told this law protects vulnerable populations from harm, but that is just not the case. Instead, what this law does is puts further indignity on a population that has already suffered far more than its fair share.” Lynch also had a powerful message for the transgender community, adding, “No matter how isolated, frayed, and alone you feel today, note this — the Department of Justice and the entire Obama administration want you to know that we see you, we stand with you, and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward.”
Earlier Monday North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory filed suit in federal court challenging the assertion that HB2 violates the Civil Rights Act and the the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, following letters sent last week by the Justice Department demanding that officials suspend enforcement of the law.
Calling the Justice Department’s actions a “radical reinterpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act,” McCrory hopes to prevent the Obama administration from blocking millions of dollars of federal funding to the state.
McCroroy remained firm in his commitment to the deeply controversial law banning transgender North Carolinians from using public facilities consistent with their gender identity, referring to the law as a “common sense privacy policy” intended to protect the “bodily privacy rights of other state employees”. The Justice Department meanwhile insists North Carolina is “engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination against transgender public employees and applicants in violation of Title VII, which prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of sex”.
Despite claims from McCrory and other prominent NC state lawmakers that the law is a simple attempt to protect citizens from predators in public bathrooms, McCrory himself admits that no such threat exists. In an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, when asked if any convictions had resulted from individuals using transgender protections to commit crimes in public bathrooms, McCrory replied that there were “None that I’m aware of”. Regardless, McCrory sees this as a national issue, saying in a statement Monday, “This is now a national issue that applies to every state and it needs to be resolved at the federal level”.