Law biased, can't be enforced, U.S. tells N.C.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Wednesday’s warning from the federal government on the state’s bathroom law is “overreach.”
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Wednesday’s warning from the federal government on the state’s bathroom law is “overreach.”

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A North Carolina law limiting protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people violates federal civil-rights laws and can't be enforced, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday.

The law, which also requires transgender people to use public bathrooms that conform to the gender on their birth certificates, has been broadly condemned by gay-rights groups, businesses and entertainers, some of whom have canceled shows in the state. Several other states in recent months have proposed similar laws limiting such protections.

In a letter to Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, the Justice Department said federal officials view the state law as violating federal Civil Rights Act protections barring workplace discrimination based on sex. Provisions of the state law directed at transgender state employees violate the anti-discrimination protections, the letter said.

"The State is engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination against transgender state employees and both you, in your official capacity, and the state are engaging in a pattern or practice of resistance" of their rights, the letter said.

The letter seeks confirmation by Monday that "the State will not comply with or implement H.B. 2, and that it has notified employees of the State and public agencies that, consistent with federal law, they are permitted to access bathrooms and other facilities consistent with their gender identity."

The government could file a lawsuit to protect state employees from discrimination, the letter said.

On Wednesday night, McCrory said the Justice Department was displaying "overreach" with its warning. McCrory added that the warning means the issue is no longer confined to North Carolina and could affect other states.

In the past, the governor, who signed the bill into law in March, has defended it and said he didn't think it would have any financial effect, either on the economy in general or on federal school funding in particular.

But shortly after it was passed, PayPal reversed plans to open a 400-employee operation center in Charlotte, Deutsche Bank froze expansion plans near Raleigh, and convention officials reported that some meetings were avoiding the state. Nearly 200 corporate leaders from across the country, including Charlotte-based Bank of America, have urged the law's repeal, arguing it's bad for business because it makes it more difficult to recruit talented employees.

North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, who helped pass the law known as House Bill 2, said he would speak with McCrory and Senate leader Phil Berger about the state's legal options. Moore told reporters the letter was an attempt by President Barack Obama's administration to "continue its radical left agenda" in Obama's final months in office.

"This is a gross overreach by the Obama Justice Department that deserves to be struck down in federal court," Berger said in a news release.

The Justice Department also said in its letter that it has notified the 17-campus University of North Carolina system that the state law violates Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination in education based on sex. That could lead to North Carolina losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal school funding.

The Justice Department's intervention in North Carolina could affect similar laws passed in other states.

Mississippi's House Bill 1523, which becomes law July 1, says government and business workers can deny services to homosexuals and transgender people based on religious beliefs.

The day after Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed the bill, Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, asking her to block what he called the "overreaching, unconstitutional, and blatantly discriminatory piece of legislation."

"I would expect a similar letter to be sent to Mississippi in the near future," Thompson said in a text message Wednesday. "The circumstances in both states are closely aligned."

In Alabama, city leaders in Oxford repealed an ordinance Wednesday that would have imposed criminal penalties on people for using a restroom that doesn't match the gender on their birth certificates.

The City Council reiterated to the crowd gathered in the council chambers that the vote came after counsel from the city attorney and didn't reflect a shift in beliefs. The ordinance -- which the council unanimously approved last week -- called for a misdemeanor charge, a fine of up to $500 and up to six months in jail.

Separately on Wednesday, dozens of families filed a lawsuit to stop a suburban Chicago school district from allowing a transgender student to use a girls locker room and restroom, arguing the policy trampled on the privacy rights of other students.

Lawyers for Alliance Defending Freedom and the Thomas More Society, two conservative groups, filed the 77-page lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Chicago on behalf of 51 families with links to Palatine-based Township High School District 211. It names the district and the U.S. Department of Education as defendants.

Information for this article was contributed by Phillip Lucas and Michael Tarm of The Associated Press.

A Section on 05/05/2016

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