Bathroom law didn't deter transgender protesters

The leader of a national advocacy group says transgender people used bathrooms aligned with their gender identity during protests in North Carolina's Legislative Building and weren't arrested for it, despite a law curtailing LGBT rights.

Mara Keisling, director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in a phone interview Tuesday that the stance of state Republican leaders toward transgender bathroom access is "nonsense." State law directs transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate in many public buildings.

On Monday, Keisling, who is a transgender woman, used women's bathrooms near one of the governor's offices and in the Legislative Building. She said others also used the rest rooms of their gender identity.

Later, Keisling was among demonstrators arrested after entering a legislative leader's office or refusing to leave when the building closed, but the arrests weren't related to bathroom access.

The Gayly-4/26/2014 @ 1:55 PM CDT