Transgender people sue NC officials over new bathroom law

Transgender people in North Carolina are suing the governor and other state officials over the law that replaced the state’s controversial “bathroom bill,” saying it still restricts them from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

According to The Charlotte News & Observer, the complaint, filed in federal court Friday by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and the LGBT legal group Lambda Legal, says that the replacement law, H.B. 142, continues to discriminate against transgender people by barring local governments from implementing protections or issuing guidelines until 2020.

In doing so, the lawsuit states, H.B. 142 maintains the restrictions of H.B. 2, the state’s so-called bathroom bathroom bill.

{mosads}That law required transgender people to use restrooms in public facilities that corresponded with the sex listed on their birth certificates.

Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and state lawmakers reached a deal to do away with the bathroom bill in March, replacing it with H.B. 142, which would allow cities and counties to implement bans on LGBT discrimination beginning in 2020.

Cooper, who was elected in November, was an opponent of H.B. 2. He has said that, while the replacement law is not perfect, it represents an important step in the right direction.

But the plaintiffs in the lawsuit say the replacement bill still violates their constitutional rights to equal protection under the law and due process, according to the News & Observer.

The lawsuit comes as the country faces a larger debate about transgender rights. 

The Trump administration withdrew earlier this year Obama-era guidance for schools that outlined protections for transgender students. 

And in Texas, state lawmakers are debating a bill similar to North Carolina’s H.B. 2 that would ban transgender people from using the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity.