Just hours after North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory and Secretary Frank Perry filed a suit against the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday to defend the implementation of House Bill 2, the DOJ filed a countersuit against the two top N.C. officials, as well as the University of North Carolina, the UNC Board of Governors and the N.C. Department of Public Safety.
The suit alleges their defense of the bill is in violation of Titles VII and IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the Violence Against Women Act.
“This action is about a great deal more than just bathrooms,” said U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch in a statement. “This is about the dignity and respect we accord our fellow citizens, and the laws that we, as a people and as a country, have enacted to protect them — indeed, to protect all of us.”
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act refers to employer discrimination against transgendered people and Title IX to the responsibility of the state to ensure equal access to adequate education, a responsibility which the DOJ contends the defendants are rejecting by jeopardizing billions of dollars in educational funding for the state.
Similarly, the Violence Against Women Act is evoked due to North Carolina risking the loss of the substantial funding the UNC system receives from the federal office on Violence Against Women.
“Upon information and belief, transgender individuals seeking access to covered facilities have suffered and continue to suffer injury, including, without limitation, emotional harm, mental anguish, distress, humiliation, and indignity as a direct and proximate result of compliance with and implementation of H.B. 2,” reads the lawsuit filed Monday.
Despite claims by proponents of H.B. 2 that the DOJ is acting outside of its jurisdiction, many N.C. lawmakers contend the DOJ is operating well within its legal authority and Governor McCrory’s political resistance is harmful to the state.
“The U.S. Department of Justice has acted within its clear authority, as granted by Congress, to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Governor McCrory’s criticism of DOJ and his call for congressional action is a misguided attempt to deflect blame for actions that have deeply damaged North Carolina’s reputation and threatened billions of dollars of annual federal funding. H.B. 2 is a state law, passed by the General Assembly and signed by Governor McCrory, and the state bears responsibility for reversing its discriminatory provisions,” said Congressman David Price, D-N.C., in a statement.
Governor McCrory initially brought suit against the Department of Justice in an attempt to compel federal courts to clarify interpretations of the Civil Rights Act which were used against the state in the DOJ’s letter to the state government on May 4.
