ACLU: Don't enforce transgender bathroom bill

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union wants a federal judge to keep authorities from enforcing North Carolina's law requiring transgender people to use public restrooms and showers corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate.

The group made that request in court papers filed Monday. The ACLU's lawsuit is one of several challenging the legislation, passed in reaction to a Charlotte ordinance allowing transgender people to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.

Gov. Pat McCrory sued the U.S. Justice Department last week, arguing that the state law is a "commonsense privacy policy" and that the Justice Department's position is "baseless and blatant overreach."

The government responded with its own lawsuit, saying the law amounts to "state-sponsored discrimination" and is aimed at "a problem that doesn't exist." The Justice Department is also seeking a court order declaring the law discriminatory and unenforceable.

Read the ACLU statement here:

RALEIGH, N.C. — The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of North Carolina, and Lambda Legal today asked a federal court to order an immediate halt to enforcement of a North Carolina law that targets transgender people for discrimination in single-sex facilities.

The three organizations and the law firm of Jenner and Block are challenging the law, House Bill 2, on behalf of six LGBT North Carolinians and members of the ACLU of North Carolina. They filed today’s motion for preliminary injunction while the case proceeds through the court system.

“HB 2 is causing ongoing and serious harm to transgender people in North Carolina and must be put on hold while it is reviewed by the court,” said Chris Brook, ACLU of North Carolina legal director. “The Justice Department has made it clear that HB 2 violates federal law. Gov. McCrory and the North Carolina Legislature wrote into state law discrimination against transgender people who just want to be able to use public facilities safely and securely.”

Kyle Palazzolo, Lambda legal staff attorney, said, “Each day that transgender North Carolinians are singled out by this harmful law, whether they are at school, at work, or just moving through their daily lives in society is another day the state is causing irreparable harm to an already vulnerable community. As Attorney General Lynch said this week, ‘none of us can stand by when a state enters the business of legislating identity and insists that a person pretend to be something they are not, or invents a problem that doesn’t exist as a pretext for discrimination and harassment,’ and we couldn’t agree more.”

Last week, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against North Carolina and Gov. McCrory for violating Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act, Title IX, and the Violence Against Women Act just hours after North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice that asks a federal court to determine that HB 2 does not violate federal civil rights laws.

The filing can be found at:
https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/carcano_pi_memo_...

To read more about the case: https://www.aclu.org/cases/carcano-et-al-v-mccrory-et-al

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The Gayly - 5/16/2016 @ 12:34 p.m. CDT