Tag: North Carolina

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North Carolina Attorney General Won’t Defend Anti-LGBT H.B. 2

NC Attorney General Roy Cooper
Photo credit: U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Mindy Bloem

From The Washington Blade:

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced on Tuesday he won’t defend in court the recently enacted measure in his state that’s considered the worst anti-LGBT law in the nation.

Cooper, a Democrat who’s running to become the state’s governor, declared he won’t defend House Bill 2 in court at an 11 am news conference at his office in Raleigh.

“Over the last 15 years, our office has defended the state, its officials and agencies when they’ve been sued,” Cooper said. “Our office will continue to do that, except it will not defend the constitutionality of the discrimination in House Bill 2.”

House Bill 2, signed into law last week by Gov. Pat McCrory after an emergency session of the state legislature, undos all pro-LGBT city ordinances in North Carolina, including the recently approved measure in Charlotte, and prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms consistent with their gender identity in schools and government buildings.

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North Carolina: Lawsuit Filed Challenging Anti-LGBT Law H.B. 2

As predicted, a federal lawsuit has been filed in North Carolina regarding the state’s new sweeping anti-LGBT law, H.B. 2, which wiped out local municipalities ability to protect LGBT citizens from discrimination, and specifies that transgender students must use public bathrooms that correspond to their “biological” sex versus their gender identity.

Calling out the Fourteenth Amendment, the lawsuit alleges the legislation was enacted to single out LGBTs.

From Buzzfeed:

“By singling out LGBT people for disfavored treatment and explicitly writing discrimination against transgender people into state law, H.B. 2 violates the most basic guarantees of equal treatment and the U.S. Constitution,” the lawsuit argues.

The complaint argues the law violates people’s equal protection, privacy, and liberty rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and their civil rights under Title IX of the Education Act of 1972.

The lawsuit is asking for a declaratory judgment that the law violates the Constitution and Title IX and an injunction against enforcement of the law.

The case was filed overnight in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina on behalf of Joaquín Carcaño, a transgender man who works at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Payton Grey McGarry, a transgender man who is a student at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro; and Angela Gilmore, a lesbian who is the associate dean for academic affairs at North Carolina Central University. Also named as plaintiffs are the ACLU of North Carolina and Equality North Carolina.

The defendants include Gov. Pat McCrory, Attorney General Roy Cooper, and the University of North Carolina and several of its senior officials.

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North Carolina’s Anti-LGBT Law, HB 2, Will Get Court Challenge Filed Tomorrow

The Hill has the details:

The American Civil Liberties Union will announce Monday it is filing a federal lawsuit in response to a controversial North Carolina law that opponents say is discriminatory to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

The law, passed by the state’s General Assembly and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory Wednesday, prohibits people from using bathrooms that don’t match their biological sex and also bans municipalities from creating their own antidiscrimination policies.

The ACLU will file the lawsuit in conjunction with Lambda Legal, a national gay rights legal organization, and Equality North Carolina, another gay rights group.

“We are disappointed that Governor McCrory did not do right by North Carolina’s families, communities, and businesses by vetoing this horribly discriminatory bill, but this will not be the last word,” said Chris Brook, legal director of the ACLU of North Carolina in a statement. “The ACLU, Lambda Legal, and Equality NC are reviewing all options, including litigation.”

“HB 2 is an undisguised attack on LGBT people and the efforts of one city to protect gay and transgender North Carolinians against discrimination,” said Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality NC in a statement.

The law has been widely condemned by other politicians, media outlets, gay rights advocates and businesses around the country.

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North Carolina Gov. McCrory Tries To Spin “Myths Vs Facts” On Anti-LGBT Law

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory is trying desperately to crawl out of this huge mess of the newly passed HB2 law which strips any LGBT protections from local municipalities and forces transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms which don’t correspond to their gender identity.

McCrory has issued this list of “Myths Vs Facts” about HB2, but there’s a whole lot of side-stepping going on here:

Now, let’s breakdown the “spin” from the truth here:

• McCrory completely sidesteps the fact that transgender students cannot use restrooms or locker rooms that match their gender identity.

• Saying businesses can still adopt their own non-discrimination policies ignores the fact that those businesses were never the problem. It’s the businesses that DO discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity that needed to be policed.

• Saying transgender people can use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity as long as they’ve undergone sex reassignment surgery and change their birth certificates is highly unreasonable. Many trans people haven’t undergone such surgery, and often because they can’t afford to do so.

• Item #5 would seem to indicate that local municipalities can enact their own stricter anti-discrimination policies. EXCEPT – there can be no such policies regarding any group not protected by state law. LGBTs are not protected by state law, so there can be no local protections either.

What HB2 has done is wipe out the local ordinances passed in 8 cities in North Carolina that chose to protect it’s LGBT citizens just like over 200 cities and 19 states across the country had done.

The state legislature of North Carolina has legalized discrimination against LGBTs. Period.

As I’ve explained before here on The Randy Report, here’s an example of how this new law will work. This transgender man will now be required to use the ladies room.  Let me know how this makes any sense…

(h/t JMG)

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NBA To North Carolina: We May Move 2017 All-Star Game Over Anti-LGBT Law

The NBA is just one of many major businesses concerned about anti-LGBT law HB2

In response to North Carolina’s new anti-LGBT law, HB2, which strips all protections for LGBTs off the books, the NBA has issued a statement hinting that Charlotte could lose the 2017 All-Star Game.

From The Bleacher Report:

“The NBA is dedicated to creating an inclusive environment for all who attend our games and events,” the statement read. “We are deeply concerned that this discriminatory law runs counter to our guiding principles of equality and mutual respect and do not know yet what impact it will have on our ability to successfully host the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte.”

On Wednesday, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed a bill that blocks its cities from allowing transgender individuals to use public restrooms of the gender they identify as, per Dave Philipps of the New York Times. Individuals will instead be forced to use the restrooms of their birth gender.

The law superseded an attempt by Charlotte’s city government to allow transgender individuals to pick their restroom based on the gender of their choosing. The city council approved the bill in February despite the Republican governor’s protestation.

North Carolina’s new law has been widely criticized in the LGBT community as being discriminatory not only toward transgender individuals but gays and lesbians as well.

The NBA awarded the 2017 All-Star Game last summer. It would be an unprecedented step to strip a city of the event based on legislation outside the citizens’ control, but it would also be a strong message in support of the LGBT community.

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North Carolina: Big Business Speaks Out Against Hateful HB 2

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Here’s How The New Anti-LGBT Law Works In North Carolina

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Things You Should Know About North Carolina’s Extreme Anti-LGBT Law

The Human Rights Campaign shares these facts you should know about North Carolina’s brand new, virulently anti-LGBT law:

• The law eliminates existing municipal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people and prevents such provisions from being passed by cities in the future. This means that only statewide non-discrimination laws are allowed, and the law passed doesn’t include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.

• The law forces transgender students in public schools to use restrooms and other facilities inconsistent with their gender identity. Additionally, access to facilities in all government agencies must be based on biological sex as well. That includes public universities.

• North Carolina is the first state in the country to enact such a law attacking transgender students, even after several similar proposals were rejected across the country this year.

• Because the law directly contravenes Title IX, North Carolina’s federal funding – at least 4.5 billion dollars- is put at risk.

• The law also prevents cities from regulating in areas like living wage laws, benefits and hour regulations for workers in the city, city contracting, and even child labor regulations.

Learn more here.

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North Carolina Legislature Votes To Ban All Local LGBT Rights Ordinances

The North Carolina Senate voted unanimously, 32-0, to pass a bill approved by the House earlier today which bans all cities in the state from enacting LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances.

It also voids all current LGBT rights ordinances on the books in North Carolina, such as the recently passed measure in Charlotte.

The vote took place after all Democrats had left. All Republicans present voted yes.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory’s office has announced the governor will sign the bill tonight.

The ACLU issued this statement:

The Charlotte ordinance protected lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents from discrimination in public accommodations including restaurants, hotels, taxis and bathrooms. Among other protections, it allowed transgender men and transgender women to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity. HB2, which now goes to Governor Pat McCrory for his signature or veto, removes the ability of any local government to protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and requires all public facilities, including schools, to allow restroom access only on the basis of “biological sex.” It also jeopardizes the more than $4.5 billion in federal funding that North Carolina receives for secondary and post-secondary schools under Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination, including discrimination against transgender students.

“Rather than expand nondiscrimination laws to protect all North Carolinians, the General Assembly instead spent $42,000 to rush through an extreme bill that undoes all local nondiscrimination laws and specifically excludes gay and transgender people from legal protections,” said Sarah Preston, acting Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of North Carolina. “The manner in which legislators passed the most extreme anti-LGBT bill in the nation – voting hours after it was unveiled without adequate public debate – flies in the face of fairness and democracy. Legislators have gone out of their way to stigmatize and marginalize transgender North Carolinians by pushing ugly and fundamentally untrue stereotypes that are based on fear and ignorance and not supported by the experiences of more than 200 cities with these protections. Transgender men are men; transgender women are women. They deserve to use the appropriate restroom in peace, just like everyone else. We urge Governor McCrory to veto this extreme, far reaching and misguided bill.”

More than 200 cities, including Myrtle Beach and Columbia, South Carolina, have adopted nondiscrimination ordinances similar to Charlotte’s without negative consequences.

The Twitterverse has responded quickly:

(via Towleroad)