North Carolina Consents To Bathroom Freedom

RALEIGH, N.C.—In April 2016, the North Carolina legislature passed, in a special session, and Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law HB2 in response to an ordinance passed by the Charlotte City Council that mandated that all restrooms in the city be available for use by persons of any sex. HB2 required that multiple occupancy bathrooms in public buildings could only be used by people whose "biological sex" was the same as the picture on the bathroom door.Almost immediately, the shit hit the fan among civil rights groups, and boycotts of North Carolina began almost immediately. Among those refusing to do business in North Carolina were movie/TV producer Lionsgate, PayPal (which was to open a new facility in the state), Deutsche Bank (ditto) and several musicians such as Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr who refused to perform concerts in the state. Even XHamster blocked access to users from the state, saying, "Judging by the stats of what you North Carolinians watch, we feel this punishment is a severe one."Faced with the billions in losses from the boycott, the legislature backpedaled and passed HB 142 on March 30, 2017, which supposedly rescinded the bio-bathroom law, but in fact, as noted by MetroWeekly.com journalist John Riley, it "kept the prohibition on localities passing LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances in place until Dec. 1, 2020. After that date, local governments could potentially pass inclusive ordinances, so long as their definition of public accommodations did not include restrooms or multi-user facilities like locker rooms, showers, saunas, or other changing facilities."In other words, virtually nothing changed for transgender people—so almost exactly two years ago, the ACLU and several individual plaintiffs sued to overturn the discriminatory law—and they won!Sort of."With respect to public facilities that are subject to Executive Branch Defendants’ control or supervision, the Consent Parties agree that nothing in Section 2 of H.B. 142 can be construed by the Executive Branch Defendants to prevent transgender people from lawfully using public facilities in accordance with their gender identity," the consent decree states. However, "This Order does not preclude any of the Parties from challenging or acting in accordance with future legislation."In other words, there's nothing stopping the legislature from biding its time until December 1, 2020, and passing whatever discriminatory legislation it wants then.But at least trans folks can't legally be discriminated against in their choice of bathrooms, locker rooms and "public facilities" until then.Note: As AboveTheLaw.com legal commentator Elie Mystal today wrote, "Over the objection of the Republican legislative intervenors, [Dem.] Governor Roy Cooper and Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein agreed to an interpretation of the law that allows trans people to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity in all public buildings. Because elections really matter.""This is a tremendous victory but not a complete one," said Joaquin Carcaño, the lead plaintiff in the case, in a statement. "While I am glad that Governor Cooper agreed to this settlement, it remains devastating to know that local protections for LGBTQ people are still banned under state law while so many members of our community continue to face violence, harassment, and discrimination simply because of who we are. The fight for full justice will continue."In a related matter, Gavin Grimm, the transgender Gloucester County, Va., high schooler who wasn't allowed to use the male restroom at his high school, and who sued the Gloucester County School Board in 2015, just had his case heard by U.S. District Court Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen, who was the judge that overturned Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage, and who's previously ruled for Grimm on two motions related to his case.Image courtesy of Pixabay