North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory accuses Obama of doing away with ‘generations of privacy norms’
The Governor of North Carolina Pat McCrory has stood firm amid pressure over his state’s newly introduced anti-LGBT law.
A letter of guidance sent from the Obama administration today, says schools should allow students to use a bathroom consistent with their gender identity.
According to the letter, in order to receive federal funds, “a school may provide separate facilities on the basis of sex, but must allow transgender students access to such facilities consistent with their gender identity.”
The letter went on to clarify that while schools could provide single-use bathrooms to provide extra privacy, it could not segregate students to insist that trans students use only the single use facilities.
The letter also quotes Title IX, saying that students should not be required to provide medical proof to a school, or documentation reflecting change of gender.
North Carolina Governor McCrory accused President Obama of throwing away “generations of gender etiquette and privacy norms… which parents, children and employees have expected in the most personal and private settings of their everyday lives.”
Going on he said “that [federal] government is searching for a solution to a problem that has yet to be defined”.
“Now, both the federal courts and the U.S. Congress must intercede to stop this massive executive branch overreach, which clearly oversteps constitutional authority,” McCory added.
A battle is currently being waged over trans bathroom rights, as North Carolina is being sued by the federal government over HB2.
HB2 was passed in response to a local ordinance in Charlotte protecting the rights of trans students who use a gender-appropriate bathroom.
The state law, passed in a special session, bans trans people from using a gender-appropriate bathrooms and rolls back local laws protecting LGBT people.
The Governor of North Carolina Pat McCrory has said HB2 is a “common sense privacy policy”, and also suggested Congress should review the Civil Rights Act following the action against hist state.
McCrory’s administration countersued on Monday, filing a complaint against the federal government.
He said the Justice Department’s lawsuit against the state was a “baseless and blatant overreach.”
The US Justice Department sued the state of North Carolina on Monday, asking a federal court to rule that the law violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The Department said the state should stop enforcing HB2.
The Attorney General Loretta Lynch also threatened to withhold federal funding to the University of North Carolina system, which could be as much as $4.8 billion.
In response, Governor McCrory filed his own desperate lawsuit against the federal government yesterday.
In it, he named Ms Lynch, the head of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Vanita Gupta and the Justice Department.
“We’re taking the Obama admin to court,” he wrote.
