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Obama Admin Sues North Carolina over Anti-Transgender Law

HeadlineMay 10, 2016

The Justice Department has sued North Carolina over its anti-transgender law. The law, known as HB 2 or the “bathroom bill,” bars transgender people from using the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity. It also invalidates local ordinances aimed at protecting LGBT people from discrimination. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the lawsuit Monday, saying the government stands with transgender people.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch: “This law provides no benefit to society, and all it does is harm innocent Americans. And instead of turning away from our neighbors, our friends and our colleagues, let us instead learn from our history and avoid repeating the mistakes of our past. And let us reflect on the obvious but often neglected lesson that state-sanctioned discrimination never looks good and never works in hindsight.”

North Carolina officials, meanwhile, have sued the federal government in order to defend the anti-transgender law. Governor Pat McCrory criticized the Obama administration’s involvement.

Gov. Pat McCrory: “Our state Legislature believe this was an unnecessary government overreach into the private sector, imposing regulations and impacting one’s personal privacy. The state Legislature and this governor also believe that guidelines then need to be put in place, because of this new public topic, for government buildings, our schools and our rest stops to ensure privacy and expectation privacy for everyone.”

The American Civil Liberties Union has also filed suit over the North Carolina law. Staff attorney Chase Strangio said the law will ultimately be defeated.

Chase Strangio: “This law will be either struck down in court or repealed by the Legislature once they realize that doubling down in this way is not politically wise or financially viable for their state. It’s just a matter of how long that will take and how much taxpayer dollars the North Carolina government is willing to spend in the meantime defending their discrimination.”

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