Justice Department Tells North Carolina To Abandon Its Anti-LGBT Bathroom Bill — Or Else

The U.S. Department of Justice has informed Gov. Pat McCrory that North Carolina’s anti-transgender law, HB2, violates the federal Civil Rights Act. He has until Monday to provide assurances “that the State will not comply with or implement HB2.”

The letter sent to McCrory Wednesday explains that HB2, which among other things bans the use of restrooms by transgender people in accordance with their gender identities in all public schools and state buildings, violates both Title VII and Title IX. They protect against discrimination on the basis of sex in employment and education, respectively.

“Access to sex-segregated restrooms and other workplace facilities consistent with gender identity is a term, condition or privilege of employment,” the letter asserts. “Denying such access to transgender individuals, whose gender identity is different from the gender assigned at birth, while affording it to similarly situated non-transgender employees, violates Title VII.”

The letter also explains that because of the similar Title IX violations, North Carolina is at risk of losing its $861 million in federal funding for its schools.

If McCrory does not provide confirmation that HB2 will not be enforced, the Department of Justice could then begin taking actions against the state to overturn it. The Department of Education could follow suit by exercising its leverage over the state’s funding.

As of Tuesday, McCrory was still claiming that the law was not discriminatory. “This had to do with privacy,” he reiterated.


[Cross-posted from thinkprorgess]

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STAFF WRITER

HENRY ROLLINS TAKES ON NORTH CAROLINA"S MCCRORY

Author and singer Henry Rollins mocked North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory in his column for LA Weekly on Thursday, saying he was being “charitable” even mentioning him by name.

“The truth is that no one cares what his name is,” Rollins wrote. “He will be dimly remembered as the asshole who signed that fucked-up bill that embarrassed the majority of North Carolinians.”

Rollins became the latest culture figure to criticize HB2, which bars trans residents from using public restrooms according to their gender identities, and also struck down anti-discrimination statutes implemented in Charlotte.

The bill’s passage has led Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr and Cirque du Soleil to cancel performances in the state, while PayPal scrapped plans to set up a facility there. According to Rollins, the wave of criticism has put McCrory in an awkward political position.

“If McCrory eventually caves and tries to repeal it, everyone will know it’s because he values money over his homophobia, which he has poorly disguised as moral rectitude and common sense,” the former Black Flag frontman argued. “Either way he’s fucked.”

Rollins also revealed that he used to live in North Carolina for several summer seasons during his youth, and described it as “a great state in which to be a broke band on the road,” because of both the amount of venues in college towns in which he could perform and the number of fans who would open their homes to him after shows.

“Judging from the people of the state I have met over almost 50 years, I can’t believe they are pleased with House Bill 2. They probably are wondering how they got to where they are now,” he wrote.

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Roger West

TODD GOES AFTER McCRORY

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory blamed liberals over the weekend for a state law that strips bathroom rights from transgender people.

On Sunday’s edition of Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd asked the governor if he regretted signing HB2 after 160 companies called for it to be repealed, and dozens threatened to boycott the state.

McCrory argued that his job as governor was to stop “government overreach” by cities like Charlotte, which had passed an ordinance allowing transgender people to use the restroom of their choice.

“It was the left that brought about the bathroom bill, not the right,” he insisted. “The city of Charlotte passed a mandate on every private sector employer in North Carolina, one of the largest cities in the United States of America. And I think that’s government overreach.”

“You talk about overreach,” Todd interrupted. “You say Charlotte overreached. How did the state of North Carolina, the state government not overreach in just the same way?”

“This has been a long debate in the city of Charlotte, this is where they came down,” the Meet the Press host pointed out. “You guys debated for like 10 seconds.”

“We’ve got to have more dialogue and not threats,” McCory said, adding that there was a “disconnect” between “corporate suites and main street.”

“That’s a very thoughtful thing for you to say about dialogue,” Todd shot back. “Where was the dialogue?”

According to McCrory, the legislature felt that it needed to act fast to stymie Charlotte’s ordinance because “once it came into effect, it would be harder to overturn.”

The governor admitted that he did not meet with transgender people before signing the law, but complained that the Human Rights Council was “more powerful than the NRA.”

“Which makes me want to overturn [Citizens United] because I don’t know who their donors are,” he quipped. “They are putting on a lot of pressure instead of having good dialogue.”

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STAFF WRITER

VOTER SUPPRESSION YOU SAY?

ROSANELL EATON TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOT

When Rosa Nell Eaton was 21 years old and living in segregated North Carolina, she became one of the first African Americans in her county registered to vote, after successfully completing a literacy test that required her to recite the preamble to the Constitution. But now, at 92 years old, she faces new obstacles under the voter suppression law signed by Gov. Pat McCrory (Teahadist) Monday. For one thing, she may not qualify for the voter ID card required under the new law, because the name on her birth certificate is different from the name on her driver’s license and voter registration card. Reconciling this difference will be a costly and time-consuming administrative endeavor. For another, she has participated in early voting since it was instituted in the state. Now, it’s been cut back a week.

She is one of several individuals who, along with civil rights groups, are already suing the state for what may be the most restrictive voting law in the nation. Other restrictive new provisions in the law include the elimination of same-day registration and early registration for high schoolers in advance of their 18th birthday, and prohibiting certain kinds of voter registration drives that tend to register low-income and minority voters.

ROSANELL EATON

Eaton participated in Moral Monday protests in North Carolina before the law passed, expressing opposition with fellow North Carolinians to a raft of new state conservative policies that would hurt the poor, women, minorities, and the environment. During one Moral Monday event, her daughter Armenta told reporters on her behalf, “She thought things were smooth sailing. She’s seen the good, bad, and the ugly. Now she’s seeing the ugly again. She fought for civil rights, she was a civil rights worker, and now she sees that it’s going backward.”


Voter Fraud Under Bush four one hundred thousandths of a percent [.00004]




Tuesday morning, she was back out again protesting the passage of the bill, this time delivering an impassioned address to an energized crowd. “Here I am at 92 years old doing the same battling,” she told the crowd. “I have registered over 4,000 citizens in the state, and at it again, alongside Republicans’ efforts to eliminate and cut early voting. … We need more, not less, public access to the ballot.” She concluded, “At the age of 92, I am fed up and fired up.”

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, you are today's asshat of the day!

RELATED:
North Carolina governor’s popularity plummets

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Editor-In Chief

Roger West

NORTH CAROLINA RACTHETS UP STUPID

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory Proves No IQ Needed To Run The State

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) said Friday he would sign a bill passed by the North Carolina legislature that would become the most oppressive voting laws in the nation. But when asked to speak about a provision in the bill that would prohibit 17-year-olds from registering in advance of their 18th birthday, McCrory admitted he “did not know enough” and had not read that portion of the bill.

The bill, passed just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act and paved the way for new suppressive state laws, imposes a laundry list of new restrictions on access to the ballot, including eliminating same-day registration, cutting early voting, easing campaign contribution limits, and expanding the mechanisms for alleging voter fraud. In remarks saying he would sign the bill, McCrory focused on his support for the bill’s voter ID requirement — a particularly oppressive and discriminatory policy that McCrory has long supported. But when asked by an Associated Press reporter about another provision in the bill to limit new voter registration opportunities, McCrory said, “I don’t know enough. I’m sorry. I haven’t read that portion of the bill.”

McCrory also dodged questions about two other elements of the bill that restrict early voting and end same-day registration, choosing instead to tout new campaign contribution limits, and pointing to an amendment — added by Democrats — that would expand early voting hours to make up for the limited early voting days.

When a reporter repeated the original question, McCrory said same-day registration concerns him because of the “possibility for abuse.” He added: “There’s plenty of opportunity for voter registration — online, off-line, through many methods. I thought that was a fair system before, and I think it’s a fair system now.” The Associated Press pointed out that North Carolina has no online voter registration, although voters can download a form online and print it out.

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision that effectively disables federal oversight of states with a history of voting discrimination, states have raced to pass new restrictive voting laws. On Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder said he would challenge a voter ID law in Texas under another provision of the VRA not affected by the Supreme Court’s ruling. Holder hinted he would pursue similar actions against other states with restrictive laws, saying, “This is the department’s first action to protect voting rights [after the Supreme Court's ruling]. … But it will not be our last.”

So if I have this right, the options are (a) he signed a bill into law that he hadn't read, or (b) he merely told others he hadn't read the bill, to deflect questions about the law's specifics, which he felt uncomfortable discussing, or (c) North Carolina is the home of the most gullible conservative voters, East of California.

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Roger West