There’s a lot of drama over a North Carolina bill that states that persons in the state must use the restroom that corresponds with their birth certificate. It’s made to ensure privacy. While keeping existing anti-discrimination protections on the books. Can businesses adopt their own anti-discrimination policies? Yes. Are businesses prevented from establishing single occupancy restrooms to accommodate everyone? No. Can local government adopt their own anti-discrimination codes that could be stricter than the current state provisions for their employees? Yes.
Oh, and birth certificates can be changed. If these transgendered individuals have undergone a sex change operation, their certificates can be changed. There has been a firestorm of controversy over a bill that pretty much toes the line of common sense. There seems to be a conniption fit over nothing. Recently, the Department Of Justice fired the opening salvo: they declared North Carolina’s bathroom bill violated the Civil Rights Act, and that the state was at risk of losing billions in federal aid.
Gov. Pat McCrory stood his ground, suing the DOJ for “baseless and blatant overreach.” Attorney General Loretta Lynch absurdly claimed this law is akin to Jim Crow laws of the segregationist South. Well, after all the chest beating, it looks like North Carolina won’t be at risk of losing federal funds (via USA Today):
The Obama administration said Thursday it would not withhold federal funding to North Carolina as a result of its state law regulating the use of public bathrooms by transgender people and allowing discrimination against gays and lesbians.White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said North Carolina will continue to receive federal funding while the Department of Justice pursues a separate enforcement action in federal court.
On Monday, the state and federal governments exchanged lawsuits over the law, which preempts local gay rights ordinances and requires people to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender at birth.
The governor was overjoyed by the news, posting on Facebook, “Sometimes the only way to stop a bully is to stand your ground and stare them down.”
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