Will N.C. override of LGBT anti-discrimination laws hold up to federal scrutiny?
Civil rights advocates in North Carolina say they will fight the state's聽new law preventing Charlotte and other local communities from passing rules aimed at stopping LGBT discrimination.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, and Equality North Carolina聽are expected to announce on Monday in Raleigh that they filed federal litigation to challenge the law, which was approved last week by the state legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.
Republican lawmakers in North Carolina this past Wednesday convened a special session to strike down an anti-discrimination ordinance passed by Charlotte, the state鈥檚 largest city, to protect transgender people who use public restrooms based on their gender identity and to protect gay or transgender people from being fired for their sexual orientation or gender identity. The ordinance was due to go into effect on April 1.
According to Republican legislators, the bill was passed to not only to protect women and children from聽鈥�,鈥� as The New York Times reported, but also as a way for the state to assert its legislative authority.
State Rep. Dan Bishop, the Republican bill sponsor, described Charlotte鈥檚 move to enact an聽anti-discrimination聽measure as an 鈥渆gregious overreach.鈥�
鈥淲hat we are doing is preserving a sense of privacy people have long expected,鈥� Representative Bishop said on the House floor last week.
The new state law is the most aggressive response yet to the expansion of gender rights, as 海角大神 reported last week. The motion to overrule the local ordinance was introduced, passed, and signed into law in a single day, with Senate Democrats walking out during the vote in protest.
"We choose not to participate in this farce," Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue of Raleigh said after he left the chamber.
The new state law overrides local ordinances aimed at curbing discrimination of transgender people and instead requires them to use bathrooms that correspond to the gender on their birth certificates.
The new law also preempts local minimum wage hikes.
Other conservative-run states such as Tennessee, Arkansas, and Indiana also have blocked local attempts to pass anti-discrimination rules on behalf of LGBT residents. 聽
鈥淣orth Carolina's passage of a law to prevent localities from enacting local anti-discrimination laws is part of a trend in conservative states to block these democratic initiatives,鈥� civil rights attorney Tom Spiggle 听听
Many states are governed by a constitutional principle called the 鈥淒illon Rule,鈥� which is based on a Supreme Court ruling that puts power in state governments rather than local authorities, unless there are explicit 鈥渉ome rule鈥� provisions in state law. Nearly 40 states, including North Carolina, are governed by this rule, giving state authorities absolute power.
This report contains material from the Associated Press.
