North Carolina transgender battle could expand civil rights lawhttps://www.yahoo.com/news/north-carolina-transgender-battle-could-expand-civil-rights-213747393.html?ref=gsReuters via Yahoo News
By Daniel Trotta and Daniel Wiessner
May 10, 2016
(Reuters) - The legal battle over transgender rights between the state of North Carolina and the U.S. government has moved the country closer to settling one of the last frontiers in civil rights law.
At issue is whether transgender people deserve the same federal protections that have been extended to groups such as blacks and religious minorities.
Backers of the North Carolina law, which requires people to use public bathrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity, say it will protect women and girls from predators. Transgender advocates say that claim is unfounded and ignores a modern understanding of people who identify with a gender other than the one assigned at birth.
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This could actually play out very interestingly. I don't think NC legislators had anticipated these unforeseen consequences. Yes they probably thought about the loss of $4.8 billion in federal funding, but given how the appeals court in Virginia has already ruled, this could further establish the right to use the gender correct bathroom for trans-people, but almost as an afterthought, because the other parts of the law, i.e. banning the right to sue for job discrimination by LGBT people is clearly unconstitutional. Now, I am not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV, but it seems to me if the courts would rule on the law in it's entirety, the bathroom provision gets struck down along with the rest of the law. Unless the court rules on the provisions separately, the entire law would be stuck down, thereby setting legal precedent. Where it would go from there is anybody's guess, but I would presume an appeal to the SCOTUS, which with a 4-4 balance could be interesting. Unfortunately, it could cause the Republican dominate House and Senate to actually try to pass a law on what bathrooms people could use, and probably to our detriment. Of the 3 likely presidents, Obama would veto. Hillary would veto, and based on past proclamations, Trump would probably veto thus establishing the right to use the bathroom for which one identifies. Just my musings. Mmmmm.
