Dive Brief:
- In the latest installment of the "bathroom bill" wars, the federal government Monday filed a lawsuit against North Carolina saying that the state is in violation of provisions in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Title IX the Education Acts Amendment of 1972 and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act that outlaw discrimination on the basis of sex, according to various media reports.
- Just hours before the government announcement, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, sued the Justice Department, trying to get a federal court to rule whether the state's controversial law violated U.S. law.
- The saga began in March, when North Carolina decided it would be the first state to ban people from using multiple occupancy public restrooms that do not match the sex on their birth certificate. Apart from employers, entertainers and sports entities being unhappy with the law, there is other money at stake for the state, including more than $2 billion in higher education-related funding.
Dive Insight:
After Monday's lawsuits, the two entities will get their say in federal court in North Carolina, reports CNN. The lawsuit calls last week's demand by the federal government that the state "remedy" its Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act by Monday "a baseless and blatant overreach."
In his comments, McCrory blamed Charlotte for causing the gender identity and public restroom controversy after that city imposed a mandate that "caused major privacy concerns about males entering female facilities and females entering male facilities." Now, he said, it's a "national issue" and could impact every employer with more than 15 workers.
No doubt this issue will keep rolling for some time. But between loss of federal funding and business dollars, North Carolina may be pressured to give it up before then. After all, the state's attorney general refuses to defend the law. As a result, the state had to hire private attorneys for its lawsuit at taxpayer expense.