Passed this March, North Carolina's House Bill 2, more popularly known as "HB2" or the "Bathroom Bill," came under immediate opposition for being discriminatory. The new law requires that transgender people must use public facilities that correspond with the gender marked on their birth certificate. While the law claims to be a protective measure in order to prevent bathroom assaults by transgender individuals, it is next to impossible to find even a single incident of this occurring.
The Department of Justice (DOJ), lead by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, urged NC Governor Pat McCrory to disclaim the law by last Monday. Instead, Governor McCrory sued the DOJ, who promptly sued McCrory right back. McCrory asked for two weeks to consider the Justice Department's proposition. In response, the DOJ gave him one week to consider, as well as requiring him to make a public statement admitting that the law is discriminatory.
The public university system of North Carolina is caught between state and federal law and was originally threatened to lose funding over their compliance with the law. The university has long held policy against discrimination, which HB2 directly violates. Despite this, they continue to enforce the law. The Obama administration has since assured the state of North Carolina that, despite the fact that the President in no way supports the law, the entire state will not suffer any monetary consequences during the legal disputes.
The DOJ's civil lawsuit specifically cites Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which addresses employment, as well as Title IX, which refers to education and the Violence Against Women Act. This act was amended in 2013 to include other subjects, such as gender identity. The Bathroom Bill has been compared to this era's civil rights battle, along side same-sex relationship rights.
As defined by the American Psychological Association, sex refers to a person's biological status (male, female, intersex) where as gender means an individuals attitudes, feelings and behaviors that a culture aligns with a specific sex. With these two ideas do not intertwine, said person often identifies as transgender. Transgenders do not enter bathrooms seeking prey, but rather simply wish to use the facilities and move on with their lives. There is no benefit to this law and it is not a "solution" to any problem. Rather, it is a discriminatory act against transgender individuals appearing under the guise of good intentions that should be overturned.
