Equality groups to file discrimination lawsuit against House Bill 2

RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) — The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of North Carolina, Lambda Legal, and Equality NC will hold a press conference tomorrow to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit challenging House Bill 2.

In a press release, organizers said House Bill 2 is a sweeping anti-LGBT measure that permits discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people across the state.

The North Carolina General Assembly convened a $42,000 special session on Wednesday to pass into law a sweeping measure that prevents local governments in the state from extending nondiscrimination policies to LGBT people and requires restroom access in public facilities, including schools, based on birth-assigned sex regardless of a person’s gender identity and lived gender. The press release also said it jeopardizes the more than $4.5 billion in federal funding that North Carolina receives for secondary and post-secondary schools under Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in institutions receiving federal funding, including discrimination against transgender individuals.

More than 200 cities, including Myrtle Beach and Columbia, South Carolina, have adopted nondiscrimination ordinances similar to Charlotte’s without negative consequences.

The North Carolina League of Municipalities, Attorney General Roy Cooper, and major companies including Paypal, Google, the NBA, American Airlines, Dow Chemical, and Biogen, have announced their opposition to the law. A Public Policy Polling survey released on March 22 showed widespread, bipartisan agreement among state voters that the legislature should leave Charlotte’s ordinance alone.

Organizers will hold a press conference Monday to announce filing of federal lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s HB 2 at 10 a.m. at the LGBT Center of Raleigh.