Bathroom bill survives N.C. legislative season

Despite threats of economic sanctions and a coordinated smear campaign, House Bill 2 remained intact at the close of the North Carolina General Assembly on July 1. The law that requires men and women to use the restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with the sex noted on their birth certificates still faces challenges in the courts and, possibly, the state legislature next term.

On the last day of the session, two minor additions to the law reinstated the right of North Carolinians to sue for wrongful termination and extended the statute of limitations from one to three years for filing such grievances. Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of NC Values Coalition, said she did not oppose the additions because they left intact the intent of HB2, much to the chagrin of opponents within the state and without.

“We went into the short session knowing that there would be great pressure to repeal it or make major changes,” Fitzgerald said.

HB2 revoked the city of Charlotte’s non-discrimination ordinance that gave protected-class status to LGBT citizens and would have required all publicly and privately owned businesses to allow transgender persons to use the restrooms or locker rooms that corresponded to their gender identities. A similar bill had been rejected less than a year earlier by the City Council. HB2 establishes statewide standards for public restroom and locker-room use, leaving private companies to establish their own standards.

On March 23, five days after passage of HB2, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit, charging the bill discriminated against gays, lesbians, and transgender people. In April, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sent a letter to Gov. Pat McCrory alleging the law violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s non-discrimination prohibitions. In response to the letter, McCrory sued the DOJ challenging the department’s interpretation of the landmark legislation. The DOJ countersued.

In total, five lawsuits have put HB2 on trial in various federal courts, posing a “grave threat via litigation,” Fitzgerald said. She fears an increasingly liberal 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could strike the bill and force the state to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The same appeals court in April ruled in favor of a biological female who presents herself as a boy and sued her school for access to the boys bathroom.

The 4th Circuit based its ruling on the Obama administration’s interpretation of “sex” in the Title IX federal regulation that prohibits gender-based discrimination in schools that receive public funding.

“The irony is, Title IX was passed [in 1972] to provide a level playing field for women,” Fitzgerald said. “If you carry this argument to the logical conclusion, it will be the end of women’s athletics.”

Even if the bill survives repeal by judicial fiat, Fitzgerald said another threat comes from the state’s Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat, who refuses to defend HB2 against legal challenges. He is opposing McCrory, a Republican, in the race for governor. Cooper has said he will repeal HB2 if elected.

Fitzgerald said polling done by NC Values Coalition indicates 80 percent of the state’s residents support HB2. Rallying that support and pushing back against what she calls “legal anarchy” will be crucial going into the November election.

Christians have a responsibility to “protect and advance God’s Word in our society,” Fitzgerald said. Mindful that not all North Carolinians share her biblical worldview, she said the notion that Christian thought should be removed from the public square is a “scary argument.”

Advancing a political agenda and submitting to God’s appointment of authority are not, necessarily, at odds, she said: “We’re only responsible for engaging in the battle, but God is responsible for the result of the battle.”