FINALLY: Justice Department Says NC Bathroom Law Violates Civil Rights Act


Who didn’t see this coming? Officials from the United States Justice Department have informed Gov. Pat McCrory that North Carolina’s HB2 is in violation of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964.

HB2 is the controversial law that discriminates against transgender people in the name of public safety and privacy. The bill says that people must use the bathroom of the gender on their birth certificate, among other nasty provisions.

Valita Gupta, principal deputy assistant attorney general, said the following in a letter:

“The Department of Justice has determined that, as a result of compliance with and implementation of NC House Bill 2, both you and the state of NC are in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 0f 1964.

“We further inform you that today the department sent letters addressed to the NC Department of Public Safety and the University of NC similarly notifying them of our conclusion that they have engaged in violations of Title VII as well as violations of Title IX.”

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 originally banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. The federal government has previously stated that it also applies to gender identity as well.

Title IX is the education law that says that bans sex discrimination in programs that receive federal funds. It is a wide-sweeping provision that has been used to prevent discrimination is higher education, sports, and other programs.

Those against HB2 had said that the law could cause the state to lose billions of dollars in federal funding, and they seem to have been proven right. Of course, Gov. McCrory and the state Republicans stated that there was no such funding threat.

The Justice Department has given Gov. McCrory until Monday to respond to the letter.

Featured image is by Brian Turner, available under a Creative Commons 2.0 license.