RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Latest on a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s new law halting Charlotte’s anti-discrimination rules and directing transgender students to use the restroom aligned with their biological sex (all times local):
12 p.m.
A transgender man who sued North Carolina leaders to stop a new law curbing anti-discrimination regulations from covering the LGBT community says the litigation is much more than using the men’s restroom.
Joaquin Carcano spoke at a Raleigh news conference Monday about a federal lawsuit challenging last week’s action by the Republican-led legislature and GOP Gov. Pat McCrory. Carcano says the litigation is about upholding the dignity, respect and value of transgender people.
Carcano is an employee at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which also must comply with the new law that directs where transgender people can use the bathroom.
Another plaintiff is North Carolina Central University professor Angela Gilmore, who lives with her wife in Durham. Gilmore says the law makes them feel less welcome in North Carolina.
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9:35 a.m.
The federal lawsuit challenging a new North Carolina law that halts Charlotte’s anti-discrimination rules and directs where transgender students must use the bathroom says the measure specifically singles out LGBT people for “disfavored treatment.”
The lawsuit, filed Monday morning, names two transgender people who work or study on University of North Carolina system campuses, which now must comply with last week’s law. The two were born female and now consider themselves male but have not changed their birth certificates. They say the inability to use the men’s restroom or locker room will cause them fear and might lead to harassment.
The lawsuit also criticizes members of the General Assembly for their arguments that Charlotte’s new ordinance needed to be overturned to protect women and children. The ordinance allowed transgender people to use the restroom aligned with their gender identity.
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9 a.m.
Opponents of a new North Carolina law blocking Charlotte and other local governments from passing anti-discrimination rules and requiring students to use bathrooms assigned to their biological sex have sued in federal court.
Two transgender people, a law school professor and civil liberties groups filed the lawsuit Monday morning. They want the new law to be declared unconstitutional. They also want to prevent its enforcement.
They say the law, approved last week by the legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, discriminates against transgender individuals. Corporations have criticized the law, but McCrory and allies defend it as providing uniform rules across the state. The legislature met in special session last Wednesday to pass the law in response to a Charlotte ordinance that allowed transgender people to use restrooms aligned with their gender identity.
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6:40 a.m.
Gay-rights groups and others who say they’ll be wronged by North Carolina’s new law preventing Charlotte and other local governments from passing anti-discrimination rules are wasting little time trying to stop it in court.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and Equality North Carolina scheduled a Monday news conference in Raleigh to announce federal litigation challenging the law, approved last week by the legislature and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory.
Republican lawmakers wanted to overturn an impending Charlotte ordinance that allowed transgender people to use the restroom aligned with their gender identity. But the new law also prevents all cities and counties from extending protections covering sexual orientation and gender identity at restaurants, hotels and stores.
Corporations have criticized the law, but McCrory and allies are defending it.