Trump quietly shelves government opposition to North Carolina’s anti-LGBT law
The Trump administration has quietly shelved the federal government’s legal opposition to North Carolina’s anti-LGBT law.
North Carolina’s former Governor Pat McCrory signed the controversial HB2 last year, overturning anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people as well as introducing a ‘bathroom ban’.
Though McCrory’s successor, Democrat Roy Cooper, supports repealing the law, he continues to be opposed by Republicans in the state legislature.
In a boost to the state GOP, today it was revealed that the federal government has quietly shelved its Obama-era opposition to the measure.
According to AP, in filings last week the federal Department of Justice yanked the Obama-era legal challenge, which had sought to impose an injunction blocking HB2.
The DoJ requested their bid be postponed indefinitely in order to evaluate its course of action, effectively shutting down the effort until further notice.
Chris Brook, legal director for the North Carolina ACLU, told AP his team was expecting the Trump administration to pull out.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, which represent four LGBT North Carolinians, are pursuing a legal challenge themselves.
They said: “We look forward to being back in court to fight to ensure that all transgender people in North Carolina are treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve and that is required by law. House Bill 2 represents an egregious attack on transgender people and their ability to participate in public life. While we continue to urge North Carolina legislators to repeal the law entirely, without still sanctioning discrimination, particularly against transgender people, we cannot wait for lawmakers to do the right thing. We will continue to fight for the rights of LGBT North Carolinians in court and beyond.”
The move comes after Trump axed federal guidelines protecting transgender kids from discrimination in education last month.
White House Pres Secretary Sean Spicer previously hinted the administration would end Obama’s legal interventions in favour of LGBT equality
The official also reaffirmed that the President supports the rights of individual states and school districts to maintain anti-transgender policies.
He said: “[It] is up to states and schools within a particular district to address how they want to accommodate that, and not sort of be prescriptive from Washington. That’s what the President believes.”
