Students Protest After UNC System Announces It Will Follow HB2
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Students at UNC-Charlotte and App State are protesting after University of North Carolina system President Margaret Spellings announced the school system will follow House Bill 2. This means anyone that uses the restroom on a UNC campus must use the facility based on their biological sex, not their gender identity.
The announcement was made via a memorandum from Spellings on April 5th. Students were seen holding signs and chanting on UNC-Charlotte and App State’s campuses Thursday afternoon.
READ THE FULL MEMORANDUM FROM UNC PRESIDENT MARGARET SPELLINGS HERE
House Bill 2 was passed on March 23rd. The bill makes transgender people use the bathroom of the gender on their birth certificate. It also takes away workers’ rights to sue employers for discrimination.
Click HERE to read the entire House Bill 2.
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of North Carolina, Lambda Legal and Equality NC released the following statement following UNC’s announcement:
“It’s incredibly disappointing that the University of North Carolina has concluded it is required to follow this discriminatory measure at the expense of the privacy, safety, and wellbeing of its students and employees, particularly those who are transgender. By requiring people to use restrooms that do not correspond to their gender identity, this policy not only endangers and discriminates against transgender people – it also violates federal law.”
The Obama administration is presently considering whether North Carolina’s House Bill 2 makes the state ineligible for billions of dollars in federal aid for schools, highways, and housing. North Carolina receives more than $4.5 billion in federal funding for secondary and post-secondary schools, all of which remains at jeopardy given the state’s policy of systemically violating Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination, including discrimination against transgender students.
“Not only does this policy fail to protect my rights as a loyal and hard-working employee and make it harder for me to do my job, it sides with ignorance and fear,” said Joaquín Carcaño, 27, a UNC-Chapel Hill employee and transgender man who is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging HB 2. “All I want is to use the appropriate restroom, in peace, just like everyone else. But now I am put in the terrible position of either going into the women’s room where I don’t belong and am uncomfortable or breaking the law.”
Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and the ACLU of North Carolina are challenging House Bill 2 on behalf of Carcaño, as well as a UNC-Greensboro student, and a North Carolina Central University law professor. Also named plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Equality North Carolina and the ACLU of North Carolina.
The lawsuit argues that through HB 2, North Carolina sends a purposeful message that LGBT people are second-class citizens who are undeserving of the privacy, respect, and protections afforded others in the state. The complaint argues that HB 2 is unconstitutional because it violates the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment by discriminating on the basis of sex and sexual orientation and invading the privacy of transgender people. The law also violates Title IX by discriminating against students and school employees on the basis of sex.
