Justice

Justice Department Weighs in on North Carolina's Bathroom Bill

May 4th 2016

The United States Justice Department said on Wednesday that North Carolina's controversial House Bill 2 violates federal civil rights protections.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory and state officials have until Monday to confirm "that the State will not comply with or implement HB2," officials said, or the state risks losing millions in federal funding, the Charlotte Observer reported.

HB2, which became known as a "Bathroom Bill," limits protections for LGBT people using public facilities according to their gender identity. But on Wednesday, DOJ officials said the bill violates Title IX of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects people in schools from being discriminated against based on their sex.

gender-neutral-bathroomFlickr/denverjeffrey - flic.kr

DOJ officials said the legislation also violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which "prohibits an employer from discriminating against an individual on the basis of sex and from otherwise resisting the full enjoyment of Title VII rights[.]"

The state's bathroom bill, according to a letter sent by DOJ principal deputy assistant attorney general Valita Gupta, "is facially discriminatory against transgender employees on the basis of sex because it treats transgender employees, whose gender identity does not match their biological sex, as defined by HB2, differently from similarly situated non transgender employees[.]"

Share your opinion

Do you think bathroom bills violate the Civil Rights Act?

No 8%Yes 92%