The U.S. federal government and North Carolina are now in direct conflict after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a civil rights lawsuit over the state's bathroom privacy law in response to the lawsuits filed by state officials earlier on Monday against the DOJ's directive to stop the implementation of the controversial legislation.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the North Carolina legislature and Gov. Pat McCrory have put their state in "direct opposition to federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex and gender identity," CNN reports.
"More to the point, they created state-sponsored discrimination against transgender individuals who simply seek to engage in the most private of functions in a place of safety and security, a right taken for granted by most of us," Lynch added.
She said the action being taken by the federal government is "about a great deal more than bathrooms," adding that "this is about the dignity and the respect that we accord our fellow citizens and the laws that we as a people and as a country have enacted to protect them."
In a Monday news conference, McCrory slammed the DOJ's "radical reinterpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act" in filing the lawsuit.
The governor also blamed the city of Charlotte for raising the issue of gender identity and public restrooms. The matter was not on the state's agenda, he said, until the city imposed a mandate that "caused major privacy concerns about males entering female facilities and females entering male facilities."
He said the bathroom dispute has now become a national issue that could affect every U.S. company. He called on Congress to revisit the anti-discrimination provisions under Titles VII and IX.
McCrory said the federal government was trying to tell every government agency and company employing more than 15 people "that men should be allowed to use a women's locker room, restroom or shower facility."
The North Carolina lawsuit states that no one is facing discrimination because the law applies equally to everyone.
"All state employees are required to use the bathroom and changing facilities assigned to person of their same biological sex, regardless of gender identity, or transgender status," it says.
McCrory said the Obama administration has not only staked out its position for North Carolina, but for all states, universities and most employers in the U.S. "The right and expectation of privacy in one of the most private areas of our personal lives is now in jeopardy," he warned.
North Carolina could lose millions of dollars in federal education funding by rejecting the DOJ's demand for the state to stop implementing the bathroom law.
People who support HB 2 said the law protects the privacy and safety of individuals.
More than 90 leaders have called on North Carolina to repeal the law including Starbucks, Accenture and Google Ventures, according to the Catholic News Agency (CNA).
Ryan Anderson of The Heritage Foundation said the backlash against the law is "cultural cronyism" where businesses and government collude to have their way.
"In this instance, big business is trying to get the government to impose its cultural values and its definition of sexuality," he said.
He earlier told CNA that anti-discrimination ordinances including sexual orientation and gender identity are being passed "so that anyone who does not comply will be accused of discrimination. It is a way to eliminate dissent."
A poll by Survey USA showed that in North Carolina, 69 percent favoured the repeal of the Charlotte ordinance.
"The American people are in favour of laws that protect their religious freedom and the safety of women and children in restrooms," Anderson said. "It is the elites that are not. Public officials will need courage not to be bullied into submission – whether it is by corporate elites, media elites or Hollywood elite – to enact policies that preserve the common good."
