The American Civil Liberties Union and LGBT activist groups filed a federal lawsuit against North Carolina, challenging the state over a recently-passed law which states that people can only use bathrooms in conformity with the sex listed on their birth certificates.
The law, signed last week by Governor Pat McCrory, says that people cannot use bathrooms of the other sex and makes no exception for transgenders. The law also prohibits extending similar protections in public places across the state's different counties and cities.
The suit was filed together by ACLU, Equality North Carolina, and Lambda Legal at a district court in the state.
"We're challenging this extreme and discriminatory measure in order to ensure that everyone who lives in and visits North Carolina is protected under the law," Chris Brook, ACLU NC legal director, said in a statement.
"This cruel, insulting, and unconstitutional law is an attack on fairness in employment, education, and local governance that encourages discrimination against thousands of LGBT people who call North Carolina home, and particularly targets transgender men and women. HB 2 aims to override local school board policies, local public accommodations laws, and more," Brook continued.
McCrory's office issued a statement in response to the opposition to the law: "To counter a coordinated national effort to mislead the public, intimidate our business community and slander our great state, the governor will continue to set the record straight on a common sense resolution to local government overreach that imposed new regulations on businesses that intruded into the personal lives of our citizens. The non-discrimination policies in place today in cities like Raleigh, Greensboro and Asheville and in every business in North Carolina are the same as they were last month and last year."
Earlier this year, City Council of Charlotte has passed a controversial ordinance that expanded the anti-discrimination laws to include protections over sexual identities.
It was the first time the law would have allowed transgenders to use either men's or a woman's restrooms in the state, which was considered controversial by several lawmakers.
The new "Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act," which reversed the earlier ordinance over privacy concerns was passed with a wide margin in both the houses, before being signed by the governor.
"While they've accused the state of disrespecting local control, the irony is far-left groups like the national ACLU, their out-of-state lawyers and Attorney General Roy Cooper want to use North Carolina as a pawn in their extreme agenda to force women and young girls to welcome grown men into their bathrooms and locker rooms nationwide," Senate president Phil Berger and House leader Tim Moore said in a joint statement.
"This lawsuit takes this debate out of the hands of voters and instead attempts to argue with a straight face that there is a previously undiscovered 'right' in the U.S. Constitution for men to use women's bathrooms and locker rooms - but we are confident the court will find the General Assembly acted properly in accordance with existing state and federal law."
